


Naruto Uzumaki and the Rise of a Wizard

by EyePhoenix



Series: Naruto!Hogwarts AU [1]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Naruto
Genre: And the Hogwarts teachers still exist, Dumbledore is still pretty damn useless, Friendship, Gai is here too, Gen, Gen Fic, Naruto at Hogwarts, Naruto!Hogwarts AU, No pairings - Freeform, first year, he does Quidditch or something, like McGonagall and Snape, magic and chakra woooo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-07 16:19:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 70,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16857301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EyePhoenix/pseuds/EyePhoenix
Summary: After spending his whole life under the strict rule of Birkenhead Orphanage, Naruto is is visited by a mysterious man who offers the young boy a new life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Rated T for later use of language and for my own language in notes - I like to swear.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my earlier fanfictions from FFN that I've decided to bring over to AO3 for various reasons - Rise of a Wizard is actually a completed fic on FFN but as I'm very slowly transferring to AO3 I thought "why not go through and change a few things!"  
> Naturally, this was a horrible idea but I'm apparently into self-embarrassment and masocism (great way to start a fic, I know)  
> Speaking of self-embarrassment - my god, reading back through this chapter it looks like I was going through some shit or maybe I had it out for Naruto. My memory is so crap even I can't remember what happened back in 2015. 
> 
> At any rate, I hope you guys enjoy this as much as the FFN lot did
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ~Fox

Naruto opened his eyes a fraction; only to quickly shut them tightly again against the sunlight that filtered through the tattered curtains. He rolled over in his bed to turn his back on the source of the light and pulled his thin, single duvet over his head with a low groan.

  
"Naruto?" A woman's quiet, timid voice reached his ears; her voice was muffled even he duvet. "Naruto, wake up - Mrs Birkenhead said that you have a visitor."

  
"A visitor?" Naruto sat up - letting the duvet fall off of his head to squint suspiciously at the woman; who flinched under his gaze and hid herself behind the doorframe. "For me?"

  
"Yes - Mrs Birkenhead said that you must make yourself presentable and come down to her office straight away," the woman instructed hurriedly as she closed Naruto's bedroom door with a more force than she had intended; leaving the boy to sit on his bed and frown at the place where she had stood seconds ago.

  
"A visitor?" Naruto questioned again as he pushed himself off of the bed and onto his feet. "No one ever comes to see me anymore - _she_ makes sure of that," he added venomously as he shot a glare towards his bedroom door, "it's got to be some sort of trick."

  
He walked the short distance across his bedroom into a small bathroom - pulling on a pull cord as he entered the bathroom and waited until the dim light flickered into life before he examined his appearance in the grimy wall mirror.

  
Naruto ran a hand through his messy, blond hair; his many attempts to tame the unruly locks were all in vain, so he had simply given up and let the tangled mess take over. His eyes were a vibrant shade of blue and often held a mischievous gleam to accompany his wicked smile - not that he often felt like smiling unless a prank of some sort was involved. Naruto then moved his fingers to the whisker-like scars that adorned his cheeks; they were his most renown - if not infamous - feature, but he had no recollection of how he had obtained the scars.

  
After a quick wash, Naruto dressed himself as fast as he could - making sure that he was careful enough not to wear clothes that were dirtied or ragged. Once he was sure that he was looking his best, Naruto threw his bedroom door open and headed down the corridor towards the staircase; receiving glares and hissed taunts from the other children while he prepared himself for another day of catastrophic disappointment - Naruto was familiar with this feeling - he had lived in Birkenhead Orphanage ever since he was an infant.

  
Those who came to the orphanage in hopes of adopting a child would often avoid Naruto due to his age, bizarre appearance or the strange events that often occurred around the boy - of which Mrs Birkenhead; the woman who managed the orphanage and one of the guardians for the orphans who lived there, failed to mention to possible foster parents in the past with hopes of getting rid of the boy, but the truth would soon come out.

  
On one such occasion, Naruto had been angered by potential foster parents after they had made insulting comments about his appearance - to the point where they even mocked him about his scars and dubbed him as 'kitty cat' - when Mrs Birkenhead entered the room to check up on Naruto and the foster parents, she had found the two adults pinned to the ceiling by an invisible force. Mrs Birkenhead had sent Naruto to his room without food for the rest of the day; ignoring his complaints of unfairness as he tried to explain that he didn't know how the incident had happened.

  
This was only one of many examples of strange occurrences around Naruto.

  
Others included a fire in the dining room after an argument between Naruto and another boy - that resulted in a thorough search of Naruto's bedroom for lighters and matches, colour changing hair, many valuable possessions had been flung across rooms and corridors by invisible forces - Naruto had been blamed for these despite no one being near them at the time, and even the disappearance of another orphan - who was later found in the basement with a very dazed expression.

  
Naruto shook the memories from his head with a scowl as he descended the stairs and slowed to a halt outside Mrs Birkenhead's office door. He took a deep breath and braced himself for the worst before he wrapped his knuckles against the worn, wooden door.

  
The door opened to reveal a strict-looking woman with dark hair that was tied back into a very tight bun; she wore a dress that showed off her slim figure - the skirt of which fell just below her knees. As soon as her cold eyes fell upon the blond boy, a forced smile spread across her face.

  
"Uzumaki," she greeted him as she stepped to one side to let Naruto enter the office.

  
"Good morning, Mrs Birkenhead," Naruto replied automatically in a dull tone.

  
"Now that won't do, will it?" Mrs Birkenhead dropped her artificial smile with a stern glare while she blocked Naruto's entrance into her office with her hand. "Shall we try again?"

  
Naruto heaved a sigh and resisted the urge to roll his eyes before he forced himself to grin widely, "good morning, Mrs Birkenhead," he repeated his words in a more cheerful tone; hating himself even more for letting the vile woman toy with him.

  
"That's better - now sit down," the woman ordered as she moved her hand and indicated towards a chair that was situated in front of her desk.

  
Naruto silently complied; dropping his grin as he crossed the threshold and descended into the chair that has been pointed out to him.

  
“Now," Mrs Birkenhead began after she had closed the door behind Naruto, " a gentleman has come to see you today -"

  
"What's the point?" Naruto muttered quietly. "No one is ever going to adopt me, you said so yourself.”

  
"Do _not_ talk over me!" Mrs Birkenhead snarled; her eyes flashing dangerously before she quickly regained her composure and began to speak in a tone that suggested that Naruto hadn't interrupted her, "as I was saying, a gentleman has come to see you today to offer you… a proposition, if you will."

  
"Proposition?" Naruto asked as he arched one of his eyebrows at her; he didn’t really understanding what the word meant.

  
"He has come to offer you a place at a school for gifted children." Mrs Birkenhead chose her words delicately.

  
“Gifted children?" Naruto stared at her sceptically; he had always known that Mrs Birkenhead had hated him - in fact, she hated most children which made him wonder why she was even in charge of an orphanage in the first place, but she seemed to save her intense loathing for just Naruto - but he didn't know that she had become this desperate to get rid of him.

  
"That's right," the woman gave Naruto another one of her false smiles, “so don't screw this up; this is probably the only opportunity you will ever have again of adoption." Without waiting for a response, Mrs Birkenhead gave Naruto a hardened stare and left the room; leaving the blond to his own thoughts.

  
"Jeez thanks," Naruto whispered sarcastically to himself now that he was finally free to roll his eyes and speak out of term without reprimand.

  
While he waited for Mrs Birkenhead to return with the gentleman - who Naruto was sure would walk through the door to announce that he was taking Naruto to a Correctional Institution rather than a school for gifted children - the blond’s mind began to race with the memories of Birkenhead Orphanage that he had shook from head moments ago.

  
He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he remembered how the other children would steal his possessions, call him a freak or beat him up - and then justify his bruises and other injuries by saying that he had fallen down the stairs, had tried to climb out of his bedroom window or that he was merely accident prone.

  
He remembered the glares that he had received from foster parents, the other children, Mrs Birkenhead and her assistants. The times he had been sent to his room for solitary confinement after accidents had happened; whether he had an explanation for the events or not.

  
When he had to fend for himself because no one else would defend him.  
Being falsely accused of bullying other children.

  
Shivering during the winter months when the temperature plummeted and he had had no decent clothing or bedding.

  
All the times he had had to miss meals as a punishment and would resolve to stealing during the hours of the early morning - knowing that no one would be awake to catch him.

  
The nights when he felt most alone and had even cried himself to sleep on some nights with the simple wish that he could run far away.

  
All at once, the bad memories came flooding into his mind again; reminding him why he was so desperate to leave the orphanage and find somewhere that he could finally call home.

  
A scowl had formed on the boy's lips as he glared at the chair that was usually occupied by Mrs Birkenhead; he wondered if he'd even care if the ceiling caved in on him to end this miserable existence.

  
Naruto gave a startled jump as a soft knock upon the door ceased his thought process; he quickly forced a welcoming smile upon his face and stood up from his chair as the door opened and Mrs Birkenhead - along with a stranger - stepped inside.

  
"Naruto, this is Mr Umino," Mrs Birkenhead introduced the man in the friendly tone that she only used around outsiders.

  
"Good morning, Mr Umino." Naruto beamed; obediently extending his hand to the gentleman.

  
“Mr Uzumaki," the man inclined his head as he clasped Naruto's hand in both of his own. The man then turned to address Mrs Birkenhead, "I'm sorry, but would you mind stepping outside please? Mr Uzumaki and myself have much to discuss."

  
"Of course," Mrs Birkenhead nodded; she then backed out of the room, throwing the pair a curious glance as she left.

  
"Please take a seat," the man smiled warmly at the blond “there’s no need to stand on my account.”

  
"Yes, Mr Umino." Naruto obliged.

  
"There's no need to be so formal either," the man walked around the desk and settled himself down in Mrs Birkenhead's chair, "you can call me Iruka if you like."

  
"Heh, alright Iruka." Naruto laughed nervously as he ruffled his hair.  
"You can drop the façade too, Naruto."

  
"Huh?" Naruto cocked his head at the man. "What façade?"

  
"I can tell that you're not happy," Iruka confessed as he frowned at the blond, "your smile doesn't reach your eyes and your body language is shoddy - that’s why I asked - Mrs Birkenhead, wasn’t it? - to leave, I thought you might feel more relaxed without your guardian loitering around.”

  
Naruto surveyed the man closely; he had brunette hair that was tied back into a messy ponytail, his eyes were sorrowful but strangely warm at the same time. A thin scar ran across the bridge of Iruka's nose - Naruto wondered how Iruka had got that scar - and his mouth was tilted slightly downwards to form a frown. This man somehow seemed to be different in comparison to any other visitor that Naruto had ever received; he didn’t mock Naruto's appearance or personality - at least not yet anyway - he didn't have that look in his eyes that Naruto always saw when everyone else looked at him. At first glance, Iruka seemed to be an honest and encouraging man.

  
Naruto stared at the man suspiciously, "who are you?"

  
"I'm a friend." Iruka smiled warmly.

  
"I don't believe you," Naruto replied through gritted teeth before he could stop himself, "I know Mrs Birkenhead hates me - she wants to have me sent away, y'know. I'm not falling for it, I know where you're really taking me."

  
"Naruto, calm down," Iruka tried to soothe the boy, “I'm not taking you anywhere if you don't want to go."

  
"Hah!" Naruto laughed sarcastically. "I bet you say that to all of the kids you lock away!" The blond sprung to his feet angrily and stormed towards the office door.

  
"L-lock away?" Iruka stammered in a perplexed tone, "no, you’ve misunderstood - we don't lock anyone away, we're just like you, Naruto."

  
Naruto froze where he stood; he could feel an electric static in the air between himself and Iruka and knew that his anger might lead to one of the dreaded accidents if he wasn't careful.

  
He slowly pivoted on the spot to face the brunette once more. "What do you mean? How are you anything like me? And who is we?”

  
“I can do it too." Iruka spoke in a soft, quiet voice.

  
Naruto raised his eyebrows disbelievingly as he folded his arms tightly across his chest. "You can do what?"

  
Iruka glanced around himself; making sure that no one else was around to listen in on their conversation before he leaned across the desk and lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper, "magic."

  
"Magic?" Naruto snorted indignantly. "You're crazy - there's no such thing as magic. Do you really think that I'm going to fool for that just because I'm a kid? I know it's all make believe for little kids, y'know. Don't underestimate me!"

  
"I guess I should've approached you in a different way," Iruka mused to himself wearily, "let me show you."

  
"A silly little card trick won't win my trust," Naruto scowled.

  
"It's not going to be a silly card trick," Iruka chuckled lightly as he reached for a blank piece of paper on Mrs Birkenhead's desk.

  
Naruto masked his interest with an unimpressed expression as he watched the brunet man fold the paper a numerous amount of times until it resembled the shape of a swan; Iruka was careful enough to let Naruto see every fold he had made.

  
"It's ready," Iruka announced; holding up the paper swan for Naruto to see with a snug grin.

  
"A paper swan?" Naruto quirked his eyebrow again.

  
"I'm going to make it do something special," Iruka whispered with an excited gleam in his eyes.

  
"What're you going to do?"

  
"I'm going to make it fly," Iruka replied as he pulled a wooden, twig-like stick out of his pocket - he tapped the swan silently and it immediately sprung to life; flapping it's tiny wings and slowly taking flight off of the table. The swan soared around the office; weaving between ornaments, filing cabinets and the dusty lampshade that hung from the ceiling.

  
N-no way!" The blond boy gawked at the origami bird. "H-how?"

  
"Magic."

  
"It can't be!" Naruto grabbed the paper bird out of the air and began to examine it. "What did you do to make it fly? Is there a string attached to it or something? Maybe a motorised propeller?" He flattened the paper out on the desk; unfolding and smoothing out the creases to further inspect the bird, but he found nothing.

  
"You watched me make it," Iruka reminded the boy; watching the panicked look flash across the blond's eyes, "whether you like it or not, you and I are the same - we're both wizards."

  
"Wait a minute!" Naruto protested; taking a small step away from Iruka. "How do you know that I'm a wizard? I've never done any magic, y’know!"

  
"I bet you have." Iruka grinned at Naruto.

  
The memories of the foster parents; pinned to the ceiling, the colour changing hair, accidental fires and the disappearing orphan pushed themselves back to the surface of Naruto's mind; making Naruto wonder if the brunette had somehow forced himself into Naruto's memories to prove his point.

  
"I can see it in your eyes," Iruka commented; staring hard at the blond, "as much as you don't want to believe me, you actually feel relieved - you're just too scared to trust me," Iruka smiled innocently at Naruto; making the boy feel unnerved, "magic makes its presence known at a young age, it's usually affected by a person's emotional state, therefore magic is hard to control when you're young, and it's even harder to explain."

  
“I - I don't understand," Naruto stammered; resisting the urge to back away from the man some more.

  
"To put it simply, has there ever been a time when you felt so angry, scared or frustrated that strange things have started to happen around you?"

  
"I…" Naruto stared at the man; remembering the time his bedroom windows had shattered after he had shouted at a fellow orphan for teasing him.

  
Suddenly, Iruka's words were beginning to make sense.

  
"No one believed me when I said I didn't do those things, but I guess it was me doing it," Naruto murmured as he cast his eyes downwards with a thoughtful expression, “it was all my fault after all.”

  
"I'm sure none of it was done deliberately," Iruka reassured the boy, "magic can be used as an instinct reaction, so you can't always control how it's used, but that's why I'm here. I want to help you control and utilise this magic."

  
"Utilise?" Naruto asked; cocking his head at Iruka.

"To make use of," Iruka simplified; making a mental note to use straightforward terms and expressions with the blond.

  
"Right," Naruto gave a small nod, "how're you going to do that?"

  
"I've already told you. I'm here to offer you a place at a school for gifted children," Iruka beamed encouragingly, "I wasn't lying."

  
"So there's more of… more of us?"

  
"Of course there is," Iruka gave Naruto an incredulous look, "you didn't really think that we'd be the only ones, did you?"

  
Naruto gave a small shrug.

  
"Anyway, the school I've come to talk to you about is called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Iruka explained as he withdrew a parchment envelope from his pocket and slid it across the table towards Naruto.

  
Naruto slowly regained his seat in the chair opposite Iruka's and gingerly picked up the envelope to read the green scrawled ink.

  
_Mr Naruto Uzumaki_  
 _Bedroom 12A_  
Birkenhead Orphanage  
London

  
"Bedroom 12 A?" Naruto blinked in confusion. "How do they know my room number? In fact, how did they know where I live?"

  
"Magic," Iruka shrugged.

  
“Stalkers," Naruto mumbled; a small but genuine smile played on the blond’s lips when he heard Iruka stifle his snigger with a cough.

  
The blond turned the envelope over to see a red, wax seal with a crest that he didn't recognised stamped into it - but he didn't dwell on it for long. He broke the seal and pulled out two thick pages of parchment and silently began to read the message inside.

  
_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock) Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards._

  
_Dear Mr Uzumaki_

  
_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._  
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.  


_Yours sincerely,_  
Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress

  
"Owl?" Naruto gave Iruka a questioning stare. "What owl?"

  
"I'll take care of that for you," Iruka reassured the boy, "I didn't expect you to have an owl as you've been living with muggles."

  
"Muggles?" Naruto frowned.

  
"Non-magical beings," Iruka explained.

  
Naruto nodded again and turned his attention to the second piece of parchment.

  
_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Uniform First year students will require:_  
_1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)_  
 _2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_  
3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4\. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.  
Set Books  
All students should have each of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions By Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble  
Other Equipment  
1 Wand  
1 Cauldron (Pewter, Standard Size 2)  
1 Set Glass or Crystal Phials  
1 Telescope  
1 Set Brass Scales  
Students may also bring a owl OR a cat OR a toad. PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.

  
Once he had finished reading the list, Naruto glanced up at Iruka with a confused expression, "where am I supposed to get this stuff from?"

  
“I'll come back in a couple of weeks, we can get your school stuff and then I'll let you stay at the Leaky Cauldron until the first term starts," Iruka gave Naruto a calculating gaze, "I guess that this means you believe me now?"

  
Naruto pouted at the man; refusing to admit his defeat, "I've got nothing left to lose, have I?" Naruto murmured in an almost inaudible tone.

  
Iruka smiled sadly at the boy as he rose to his feet and crossed the room; squeezing the blond's shoulder in an affectionate manner as he walked past, "I'll speak to Mrs Birkenhead - you can tell her about Hogwarts School for Gifted Children, but it would be best if you kept quiet about magic; secrecy is law in the wizarding world - I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, Naruto."

  
Naruto watched quietly as the only friendly face he had seen in a very long time turned his back on him and departed through the office door.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to add the more detail summary in during the first chapter, so I’m just going to throw it in here now - by literally copying and pasting from my FFN account;
> 
> this fanfiction is set in 1982 - which means it is set 9 years prior to Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts. The reason being was because I didn't want to include the trio too much otherwise it would kinda be like one of those "Naruto goes to Hogwarts and helps Harry in the Twiwizard Tournament", "Naruto finds the Philosopher's Stone with Harry Potter" or similar stories - I did this under a difference pen-name with Sherlock and Harry Potter and found that I quickly got bored of it due to repetition and the atmosphere seemed more like that of a story where the character who I wanted to be my main became a side character. So I'm planning to use Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno to create something similar, but at the same time different to the trio we know and love. Naruto is due to start his first year at Hogwarts during 1982 - this means that he will be in the same year group at Bill Weasley, and two years later joined by other such as Charlie Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks and of course the younger Naruto Characters; so I hope to touch on some of these characters in a bit more depth; for example, we know that Bill Weasley became a prefect, Headboy and enjoyed Quidditch during his time at Hogwarts. There will still be mention of Harry Potter and if I do well with the first fanfiction, I may consider doing a shorter fanfiction set during the Deathly Hallows where the Naruto crew aid in the battle of Hogwarts or short drabbles about life after Hogwarts where Naruto and Harry will meet. I definitely want to include more Naruto characters, the Rookie Twelve will definitely be in it though.
> 
> Anyway, I’m still transferring fanfic from one website to the other, so hopefully (spare time permitting) this won’t take too long - I aim to have it one before/ around Christmas. 
> 
> Thanks for sticking by me! 
> 
> ~Fox

Naruto spent the following month crossing off each day on a makeshift calendar that he hid from Mrs Birkenhead and her staff as well as the other orphans at Birkenhead Orphanage under the mattress on his bed.

Roughly a week after Iruka's visit, Naruto had begun to pass time by pacing around his bedroom or staring out of the small window at the street below; waiting for the brunette man with the scarred nose to return for him.

By the time two and a half weeks had passed since he last saw the brunette, Naruto began to feel more and more agitated at the man's absence.

After three weeks, the blond had convinced himself that he would never see Iruka Umino again.

"Maybe it was just a joke," Naruto sighed quietly as he threw himself down on his bed; clutching at the parchment envelope after rereading the letters inside for the umpteenth time.

Naruto stared glumly at the grey ceiling as he remembered how warm and welcoming Iruka had seemed to be - before he had left the orphanage, Iruka had bade the blond goodbye and made Naruto promise that he wouldn't mention Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, magic or wizards to any of his guardians or the other orphans at Birkenhead Orphanage.

Naruto had thought that this was a fairly reasonable request at the time, but now that he had time to dwell on Iruka's words and his current circumstance, he was finally realising how suspicious Iruka's request had really been - Naruto soon began to wonder why a fully grown adult would want to pull such a horrible prank on a child.

The following days after Iruka's visit, Mrs Birkenhead had summoned Naruto to her office and had begun to question him on the nature of the conversation between Naruto and Iruka. The blond - taking his vow of secrecy to heart - gave Mrs Birkenhead the story about Iruka's school for gifted children; slipping in a few truths to sound more convincing, but Mrs Birkenhead grew as impatient as Naruto - and she was soon insisting that the blond had managed to offend the man; as though this reason had justified why Iruka had not yet returned.

A sharp knock jerked Naruto out of his stupor and back into reality.

"Just a minute!" The blond called out; sitting up on his bed to slip the parchment envelope under the mattress with the calendar. He briefly glanced at the calendar - crossing off the date August twenty fifth with a grimace - before he lowered the mattress once more and crossed his bedroom to open the door.

In the hallway stood the familiar brunette haired man with the scarred nose and an apologetic grin spread across his face.

"Good afternoon, Narut," Iruka greeted the boy cheerfully, "how are you?"

Naruto gave Iruka an unimpressed glare and tightly knotted his arms over his chest, "a couple of weeks." Naruto pouted.

"I’m sorry about that," Iruka ruffled his hair nervously, "I had a few errands to run before I could come and get you. I would have sent you an owl but I didn't want to arouse any suspicions - especially with so many muggles in the area."

Naruto surveyed the man; he did seem to be genuinely sorry.

"It's alright," Naruto relaxed his sulky demeanour.

Iruka gave a sigh of relief; pleased to see that he hadn't done any lasting damage to the boy's already fragile trust, "I'm going to take you to Diagon Alley today; you might want to collect all of your possessions - we won't be coming back here."

"We won't?" Naruto asked; quirking an eyebrow curiously.

"Not until next July, no," Iruka confirmed, "I'll wait for you downstairs, okay?"

Naruto gave the brunette a curt nod and started gathering the belongings he found most dear to him; not that there were many that hadn't been broken, stolen or thrown away over the years.

All he had now was a crystal blue necklace - that he kept hidden beneath his t-shirt at all times - given to him the same day that he had arrived at the orphanage as an infant and his letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He filled a ragged backpack up with his clothes - tucking the Hogwarts letter inside the backpack - and slung the bag over his shoulder.

Naruto didn't bother taking a last look at his bedroom; he Instead retrieved his crafted calendar from beneath his mattress and tucked it away safely into his pocket before he then pivoted on the spot and departed from his room; feeling glad that he wouldn't have to look at the small bedroom for almost another year.

Naruto proceeded to follow his usual route downstairs; ignoring the other children - who huddled together and whispered behind their hands or stopped playing in their room to stare at him when he was nearby.

He gave Iruka a wide smile as he descended the stairs; without realising that this might have been his first true expression of happiness in a very long time.

"Ready?" Iruka asked; holding a hand out to offer to carry Naruto's bags.

"I can manage thanks," Naruto readjusted his grip on the backpack as he stopped in front of Iruka.

"Okay, I will return with Naruto at end end of July next year - as we agreed earlier," Iruka addressed Mrs Birkenhead - who was stood beside her office door.

"Of course," Mrs Birkenhead nodded at Iruka; speaking in her forced joyful tone before she then turned her attention to Naruto, "remember to behave, have fun and don't forget to make friends, Naruto."

"Right." Naruto replied a little more venomously than he had intended to.

"We'll see you in the summer," the woman gave Naruto one of her infamous artificial smiles.

I look forward to it," Naruto mumbled under his breath as he turned to follow Iruka out of the main doors and into the street below.

The pair walked in silence until they were quite some distance away from Birkenhead Orphanage; Naruto had to completely rely on Iruka's sense of direction as this was the first time that he had ever been outside the orphanage in a very long time.

They descended a set of stairs into an underground train station and approached a ticket machine.

"Sorry Naruto," Iruka laughed nervously at the blond, "I'm going to need a little help here."

"Help?" Naruto enquired; giving Iruka a nonplussed glance.

"I… um… I'm not very good with muggle money," Iruka confessed in a quiet voice as heat rose to his face, "I don't really understand the paper notes and the coins."

"Oh," Naruto was taken aback, "do wizards use different money?"

"Yeah," Iruka laughed again, "we use Galleons, Sickles and Knuts - not pounds and pence - I'll show you what I mean when we get to Diagon Alley."

Naruto nodded slowly as Iruka tried to place their travel information into the ticket machine and ushered Naruto to step closer to him; so that the blond could help him with the muggle currency.

As soon as the tickets were purchased, Naruto and Iruka passed through the ticket barrier and found the platform that they were supposed to be on - which had taken longer than they had expected it to as the pair seemed to be prone to getting lost.

"We get off in four stops," Iruka informed the boy as he surveyed an overhead map of the London Underground.

"You sure?" Naruto smirked mischievously.

"Of course I am - I’ve just checked the map," Iruka retorted in a defensive tone as he met Naruto's gaze before he quickly turned his attention back towards the map once more, "hang on a second, let me just double check."

"You're really helpless with directions, y'know." Naruto sniggered; leaning back in his chair.

"Like you could do any better!" Iruka countered as he sat in the chair opposite Naruto.

"I'm just a kid; how am I supposed to know where I'm going?"

"You got me there." Iruka remained in silent thought for a few moments while he eyed Naruto with interest, "you were very quick in gathering your belongings - didn't you say goodbye to any of your friends at the orphanage? It may not seem like it, but a year is a long time.”

Naruto snorted dismissively and shifted his gaze to his own reflection in the window, "I don't have any friends there."

"Why not?"

"No one likes me," Naruto shrugged but he didn't elaborate and Iruka decided not to push the blond for a more elaborate answer.

"I was meant to ask, are you a teacher at Hogwarts?" Naruto questioned; throwing the man a curious glance before shifting his gaze back towards his own reflection.

"Not quite," Iruka replied, "I'm an Apparition Instructor and a Ministry of Magic Official."

"What does that mean?" Naruto enquired; turning in his seat to give the brunette his full attention and cocking his head to one side.

"I work for the magical community's governing body - but my role isn't very significant," Iruka told Naruto in a humble voice, "my main job is to teach Apparition to youngsters - so it won't be uncommon for you to see me around Hogwarts every now and again."

"What's Apparition?"

"It's a method of transportation; Apparition will allow a witch or wizard to disappear from one location and allow them to reappear in their chosen destination - within certain limits of course."

"Limits?"

"For example; it's against the wizarding law to apparate to a different country."

"Will I be learning to apparate too?"

"Not until your sixth year - you're less likely to splinch yourself if you learn from an older age and you're not allowed to use magic outside of school until you're seventeen years old,” Iruka explained.

"What does splinch mean?" Naruto asked; feeling more confused now than he had at the beginning of their conversation.

"It's not a nice experience," Iruka shuddered at the thought, "it's where someone can leave a body part in the original location during Apparition."

Naruto winced, "does it hurt?"

"Not if its reversed properly - we have an Accidental Magic Reversal Squad if such an occasion arises."

"So if you're an Apparition Instructor, why are you taking me Diagon Alley?" Naruto frowned. "Why didn't one of the teachers come and take me?"

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to," Iruka grinned.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Naruto mused; he was sure that he had heard of that name somewhere before, but he couldn't recall where.

"He's the headmaster of Hogwarts - it was all written in your letter," Iruka reminded the blond, "he asked me to come and talk to you."

"Do you know Professor Dumbledore well?"

"I wouldn't say that I know him well," Iruka replied honestly as he rose from his seat and motioned that Naruto should follow him, "he was my headmaster when I was a student at Hogwarts."

The pair disembarked from the train and walked through the underground station until they found another set of ticket barriers and ascended to the street above.

"You went to Hogwarts?" Naruto asked disbelievingly. "How old is this school?"

"We think is was founded around 990 A.D." Iruka answered Naruto's question easily, "it was founded by four of the most famous witches and wizards known to our world; Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff. Hogwarts has four house groups with their own attributes in respects to each founder."

"What are the attributes?" Naruto enquired; struggling to keep up with their discussion as well as Iruka’s pace.

“Gryffindor is the house of the brave, Ravenclaw values intelligence, while Slytherin favours the ambitious and cunning but you'll always find the hardworking and loyal in Hufflepuff."

"I don't think I'd fit into any of those house groups, y'know," Naruto admitted with a troubled expression.

"You will," Iruka promised, "Everyone belongs somewhere, you've just got to find your strengths."

"What house group were you in, Iruka?"

"Me?" Iruka gave a small chuckle. "I was a Ravenclaw, but I was very nearly a Hufflepuff," Iruka opened a door to a public house with a sign that read The Leaky Cauldron, "this is the inn you'll be spending the rest of the week at before term starts," the older man told Naruto as they passed through the pub to a door at the back - Iruka waved at the barman as they walked through the tables and chairs.

The pair exited the Leaky Cauldron through the back door into a walled courtyard that was empty with the exception of a few rather dented dustbins.

Naruto stared at Iruka in confusion, "Iruka, I don't think we're in the right place."

"Hm?" Iruka hummed as he studied the brick wall. "No, we're in the right place."

Naruto watched as Iruka withdrew his wand from his jeans pocket and started counting the bricks while he muttered to himself.

"Got it," Iruka mused to himself; he then tapped the wall three times with his wand.

To Naruto's surprise, the wall began to tremble and quiver until a hole appeared in the middle - growing bigger and bigger as every second passed, until it formed an archway that led into a bustling, cobbled street.

"Stay close, Naruto," Iruka warned, "this is where everyone gets their Hogwarts supplies from - so it's going to be packed with last minute shoppers."

"R-right," Naruto stumbled into step next to Iruka while he stared around himself; trying to take everything in.

The closest shop displayed many cauldrons of varying sizes and next to that shop was an apothecary; with a window display full of jars with slimy or grotesque contents. Naruto could hear owls hooting nearby; though he was amazed that he could hear them over the buzzing noise of the pressing crowd.

Young children weaved between the witches and wizards; shrieking and giggling happily as they ran while they ignored the exasperated calls from their parents.

"Have you got your list?" Iruka asked; pulling Naruto out of his wonderment.

"Yeah," the blond pulled the rucksack off of his shoulder and retrieved the parchment envelope; he shuffled between the two letters inside the envelope before he handed the list to the brunette haired man, "Iruka, how am I supposed to pay for all of this? I grew up in an orphanage, so I've never had any money."

"Don't worry, Hogwarts always has an emergency fund for students." Iruka reassured the young boy, "anyway, we've found a vault in your family name at Gringotts - so we looked into the magical signature of the most recent heir and compared it to your own and luckily we found a match."

"Family name?" Naruto pondered. "So my parents are wizards too?" He asked excitedly.

"It's very likely, but we matched your magical signature with that of your grandfather - we couldn't find anything about your mother and father," Iruka confessed to Naruto, "we only had your surname to work with," Iruka tried to justify after he spotted the disheartened expression on Naruto's face, "I'm sorry, Naruto."

"It's alright; as soon as I finish school, I'm going to find them," Naruto perked up and grinned at Iruka, "I can start by finding this Grandpa Uzumaki, y'know."

Iruka smiled back at the boy; feeling a guilty lump rise in his throat when he found himself unable to tell the blond that Naruto's grandfather had passed away many years ago.

Iruka led Naruto down the winding, cobbled street until they came face to face with a large white building.

"This is Gringotts; the wizarding bank," Iruka announced as they climbed the marble stairs and entered the large building through a set of bronze doors; they were bowed to by two short and rather ugly looking creatures wearing red and gold uniforms - Naruto eyed them curiously as they walked by, but quickly turned his attention to another set of doors - this time silver - with a poem engraved on them.

_Enter stranger, but take heed_  
Of what awaits the son of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn,  
So if you seek beneath our floors,  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware,  
Of finding more than treasure there.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto whispered as Iruka opened the silver doors and motioned to Naruto to step inside.

"It's a warning to unnerve thieves - I've heard that some thieves can accidentally get locked in a vault for years at a time before they're discovered," Iruka murmured quietly while another pair of the uniformed creatures bowed to them, "this building probably has the strictest security I've ever seen."

"Has anyone ever stolen anything from here?"

"Not that I know of," Iruka shrugged.

The pair stopped to a halt in front of a desk where another of those creatures was hunched over a piece of paper with a quill poised in his hand.

"What are these… uh… what are…" Naruto struggled to find the right term to use without sounding offensive and rude. "What are they?" He had asked the question in a barely audible voice; relieved to see that the closest creature hadn't heard him.

"Goblins," Iruka replied in an equally quiet voice before he cleared his throat; loud enough for the goblin at the desk to hear him.

The goblin slowly glanced up from his paperwork and stared at Iruka.

"Good morning," Iruka smiled as he greeted the goblin politely.

"Morning," the goblin grunted as he lowered his eyes back towards his paperwork; dipping his quill in his ink pot, adjusting his glasses and scribbling something on the papers.

Iruka glanced around himself and shuffled on the spot awkwardly for a few moments while Naruto gazed between the goblin and the older man uncertainly.

The goblin finally dropped the quill back into the ink pot and intertwined his fingers; staring expectantly at Naruto and Iruka, "Can I help you?"

"Ah, yes please," Iruka nodded; replacing his bored expression with another pleasant smile, "we would like to visit Mr Uzumaki's vault please," Iruka held out a small golden key for the goblin to see.

The goblin took the key and examined it; as though he was looking for signs of forgery, he then leaned over the desk and squinted between Naruto and Iruka suspiciously.

"Very well," the goblin muttered as he jumped down from his desk, "follow me," he ordered.

"Goblins don't seem very friendly," Naruto murmured to Iruka.

"No," Iruka agreed with a half-hearted shrug, “but they're extremely intelligent and very skilled metal smiths. They have proven themselves to be vital members of the wizarding world, but don't underestimate a goblin because of the way they look or their size - they can be quite bloodthirsty at times."

Naruto gulped nervously.

"This way," the goblin stirred the pair from their whispered conversation as he led the two wizards down a narrow stone passage; the only source of light came from flamed torches that were mounted upon the stone walls. They followed the passage until they found a set of tracks on the floor.

Tracks?" Naruto blinked at the floor in confusion. "Is there a train down here?"

"Don't be silly," Iruka chuckled, "How's a train supposed to fit in a small passage like this?"

"I don't know," Naruto pouted stubbornly at the brunette haired man, "magic?"

The goblin whistled and a small cart - that reminded Naruto of the old mining carts he had learnt about in the orphanage when he and the other children were taught about the industrial revolution - raced towards them; skidding to a halt just in front of the mishap trio.

As soon as Naruto, Iruka and the goblin were safely inside the cart, it shot off at an incredible speed; zooming through the labyrinth of twisted passages until the cart came to an abrupt halt almost as soon as it had started; throwing the unprepared Naruto forwards painfully.

"Are you alright?" Iruka cast the blond a worrisome look as Naruto staggered out of the cart and leaned against the cool stone wall.

"I - I think so," Naruto stuttered; holding his stomach as a sense of nausea swooped over him.

"It takes some time getting used to the carts," Iruka smiled fondly and clapped Naruto on the back, "just take a few deep breaths and you'll be fine."

"Vault five hundred and eighteen," the goblin announced; electing to ignore the two wizards as he approached a large door with the key that had been given to him by Iruka. The goblin unlocked the door with a metallic click and stepped aside as the vault swung open; releasing decades of dust and smoke.

Inside the vault was a vast pile of coins in colours of gold, silver and bronze.

"The gold ones are Galleons, silver ones are Sickles and the bronze ones are Knuts," Iruka explained as he and Naruto stepped inside the vault - leaving the goblin to wait outside, "there's seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and twenty nine Knuts to a Sickle - it'll probably be confusing at first seeing as you're more accustomed to the muggle money, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time."

"Right." Naruto nodded:’despite the fact that he had already forgotten Iruka's explanation.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just addressing a quick chapter before I have to run away to the magical land of work (yay) 
> 
> A quick thank you to those who left kudos, subscribed or even just read this fic, I really appreciate your support
> 
> Hope you enjoy and I’ll be back with the next chapter either later tonight or tomorrow :) 
> 
> ~Fox

Iruka and Naruto descended the marble stairs; blinking in the dazzling sunlight after having their eyes adjust to the darkness in the dim passages of Gringotts the wizarding bank.

"Right - now that we've got your money, we can make a start on this," Iruka waved the shopping list at his young companion, "to save some time, I'll take you to Madam Malkin's and then I'll get your school books while you're having your robes fitted - then you can choose a pet and I'll buy your cauldron, phials and potion ingredients."

"What about my wand?" Naruto asked excitedly as he followed the brunet man towards a shop that displayed robes of varying colours.

"We'll save that until last," Iruka grinned at the blond, "wands can be a little complex and time consuming at the best of times," Iruka stopped at the shop door; making Naruto slow to a halt beside him too, "just tell Madam Malkin that you're here for Hogwarts robes - she'll know what you need. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay," Naruto nodded as Iruka gave him a gentle shove between the shoulder blades towards the shop's door.

Naruto watched the older man disappear through the crowd before he entered Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

"H-hello?" Naruto called out with uncertainty; staring around the seemingly vacant room. "Hello?"

"Coming!" A female's voice drifted from a room that was hidden at the back of the store.

A rather short, stumpy woman hurried into view; carrying a large cardboard box - that only seemed to make her appear shorter. "Hello dear," she smiled at Naruto; dropping the heavy box to the floor with a huff, "how can I help you?"  
"I'm here for my Hogwarts uniform," Naruto replied; he was beginning to feel rather unnerved and wished that Iruka hadn't left him on his own.

"I should've known," the woman tutted to herself; she then tugged on the sleeve of Naruto's orange jumpsuit - dragging the blond further into her shop - and made Naruto stand on a slightly raised podium, "first year?"

"Um… yeah," Naruto nodded; watching as the woman climbed onto her stool and threw an oversized and unshapely black robe over his head.

"You must be nervous," Madam Malkin chuckled to herself as she began to place pins here and there in the robe, "I remember my first year at Hogwarts."

"You went to Hogwarts too?" Naruto gave the woman an astonished look; surprised that he had now met two ex-pupils of Hogwarts School.

"Of course, every witch and wizard in the United Kingdom goes to Hogwarts," the witch smiled fondly.

"Aren't there any other wizarding schools?"

"Oh yes," Madam Malkin nodded deeply, "there's no better place than Hogwarts, but there are definitely others - don't ask me where though, most wizarding schools are very secretive about their location."

"I bet you get a lot of customers then," Naruto laughed nervously.

"Mm," the witch hummed, "mainly by mail order, but I'm always sure to get business in Diagon Alley - specially at this time of year. I'm hoping to expand to a smaller shop in Hogsmeade soon."

Madam Malkin continued to make small talk with Naruto as she fitted his robes until they were finally finished. The blond boy paid and thanked the witch before he stood outside; where he cast his eyes at other witches and wizards with interest as they past by while he waited for Iruka.

"Hey Naruto!" A voice called out.

Naruto pivoted on the spot to find the brunette waving at him with many bulging plastic and paper bags at his feet, "I thought we could grab a bite to eat," Iruka shouted over the crowd; jerking his thumb at a stand behind him.

"Sounds great to me," Naruto beamed as he ran over to join Iruka's side.

"Come on then," Iruka picked up the bags and ducked inside a semi-curtained stall.

Naruto followed the older man curiously; sitting on one of the raised chairs. They sat at a bar-like table facing a small kitchen. On a stove was a large, metal pot that had a broth boiling and frothing inside. A man was kneading a dough mixture as he greeted his customers with a warm and welcoming smile.

"Good afternoon, long time no see."

"It had been a while," Iruka agreed as he inclined his head at the man.

"Who's your little friend, Iruka?" The man asked as he spotted the blond.

"This is Naruto Uzumaki, he's starting his first year at Hogwarts. Naruto, this is Teuchi, he is a good friend of mine," Iruka introduced the pair.

"Pleased to meet ya," Naruto smiled.

"You too - any friend of Iruka's is a friend of mine," Teuchi extended his hand to shake Naruto's, "first bowl of ramen is on me, boys."

"No, we can't do that," Iruka protested.

"Honestly, I insist," Teuchi abandoned his dough to retrieve the noodles that were already boiling; he prepared two bowls of miso ramen with extra pork for Naruto and Iruka, "enjoy!"

"Thanks mister!" Naruto grinned as he accepted his bowl of noodles and grabbed a pair of chopsticks; he then cast a sideways glance at the brunette to see how Iruka held his chopsticks - as Naruto had never used them before.

Iruka laughed nonchalantly at Naruto; after watching the blond's failed attempts at using the wooden utensils.

"Here, let me help," Iruka sniggered; leaning closer towards the blond to corrected Naruto's grip on the chopsticks.

"Hmph," Naruto pouted, "I almost had it, y'know."

"Of course you did, knucklehead," Iruka laughed and ruffled the disgruntled boy's hair.

* * *

 

Thanks, old man Teuchi!" Naruto called out as he and Iruka backed out of the ramen stand.

"See you around," Teuchi waved cheerfully as the pair disappeared from view.

"Shall we get you a pet now?" Iruka suggested as they walked through Diagon Alley; although the street was still rather busy, the crowd had definitely thinned out which made movement from one shop to another considerably easier, "I can come with you this time - I've already got the brass scales and the telescope for you - so all that is left to buy is your pet and a wand,” the brunette held up one of the bags for Naruto to see.

The blond nodded earnestly.

"This way then," Iruka steered Naruto towards a shop with a peeling sign that read Magical Menagerie, "do you know what type of pet you want?"

"Hm," Naruto hummed thoughtfully, "maybe a toad or an owl."

"A toad?" Iruka cocked his head at the boy.

"I mean, cats and owls are cool and all," Naruto reasoned aloud, "but no one else is going to have a toad really - all the other kids will go for the pets that they think are more popular, y'know."

"Y'know?" Iruka echoed the word. "You say that a lot, don't you?"

"It's an automatic thing!" Naruto replied defensively. "I can't help it, y'know!"

Iruka hid his smirk and opened the door of Magical Menagerie then ushered the blond into the shop.

It was very cramped inside; cages were stacked up by the walls - hiding almost every inch of the panelled wood from view. The noise was almost deafening; Naruto felt as though he might have to scream to be heard over the sound of squawking owls, meowing cats and squealing rats.

"Have a good look around before you pick a pet," Iruka advised.

"Got it," Naruto murmured dismissively as he examined a tank of jewel encrusted tortoises, "are they real?"

Naruto spent half an hour closely surveying each of the animals in Magical Menagerie.

"I like this little guy," Naruto beckoned Iruka to his side and pointed at a bright orange toad that had purple markings around its eyes, mouth and stomach.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Naruto nodded enthusiastically with a grin.

"Alright," Iruka smiled; he then left Naruto's side to retrieve the woman standing behind the shop counter.

After the toad had been paid for and was placed in a small glass tank so that was easier to carry, Naruto and Iruka left Magical Menagerie and headed towards another shop called Ollivanders.

"Ollivanders?" Naruto read in a questioning tone.

"Mr Ollivander is one of the world's most renown wand makers," Iruka explained, "there's no better place to get your first wand."

They entered the quiet shop together; behind the counter stood a man with white thinning hair, large pale eyes and an eerie smirk was playing on his lips.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Ollivander greeted the pair in a soft voice, "is that you, Mr Umino?"

"Yes - good afternoon, Mr Ollivander,” Iruka replied as he placed the many bags down gently on the floor.

"Ah, I thought it was you," Ollivander mused, "Pear and Unicorn Hair, thirteen and a half inches, unyielding."

"That's right," Iruka withdrew his wand to show the wizened wizard.

"You've looked after it well," Ollivander gave Iruka a nod of approval as he took the wand for closer inspection, "it almost looks new - I'm glad to see that it has been treated so nicely."

"Thank you," Iruka's cheeks reddened modestly as he took his wand back from Ollivander and stowed it away in his pocket once more.

"So you must be my customer," Ollivander stated as he turned his attention to Naruto - he pulled a silver measuring tape out of his robes, "now, which arm is your wand arm?"

"My wand arm?" Naruto stared blankly at Ollivander.

"Your wand arm is usually the hand you write with,” Iruka offered.

"Oh, well in that case, I'm right handed," Naruto informed the wand maker, "so I guess this is my wand arm," Naruto waved his right arm a little.

"Brilliant," Ollivander beamed - the wand maker began to measure Naruto in all sorts of places with his   
tape measure; muttering the measurements and plausible wands as he worked, "Keep still please," Ollivander lectured the blond as Naruto tried to turn his head towards Iruka - so that he could give the other man a questioning stare, "I think that'll do," Ollivander whisked the measuring tape away and hurried away into the back of the shop; where Naruto could see shelves upon shelves of haphazardly stacked boxes.

"Why did he take so many measurements?" Naruto mouthed at Iruka; who merely shrugged in response.

"Now Mr-?" Ollivander had returned - holding a long, but slim box - and stared expectantly at Naruto.

"Uh… Uzumaki," The blond answered.

"Mr Uzumaki, every wand made at Ollivanders has a magical core; those are Dragon Heartstring, Unicorn Hair or Phoenix Feather," Ollivander opened the box to reveal a dark coloured wand, "no two wands are ever the same and the wand you leave with today will be unique to you. You will never get such good results with another's wand. Let's try this one first - Blackthorn and Dragon Heartstring, nine and a half inches, nice and supple -" Ollivander handed the wand to Naruto, "- give it a wave."

Naruto glanced about himself with uncertainty and pointed the wand towards a spindly chair that sat next to the door; the chair was suddenly engulfed in flames, making Naruto and Iruka jump in surprise.

"I'm sorry!" Naruto apologised quickly as he delicately placed the wand on Ollivander's counter - before he could cause any more damage.

Iruka had quickly whipped his wand out again and muttered a spell under his breath; conjuring water out of the end of his wand to extinguish the fire.

"It’s nothing to worry about," Ollivander put the wand back in the box and rushed away to the back of the shop again while Naruto shuffled guiltily and glanced back towards the chair constantly.

He returned minutes later with several more boxes clutched in his arms. The wand maker settled the boxes down on the counter and opened the first one; offering the wand to Naruto, "Aspen and Phoenix Feather, twelve and three quarter inches, quite flexible."

   
Naruto gingerly took the wand; feeling more apprehensive about holding it than he had with the first wand. He gave it a small flick towards a chest of wooden drawers; the draws were violently thrown across the shop, until they hit the opposite wall - where they splintered and shattered. Naruto quickly dropped the wand back in the box while Iruka and Ollivander surveyed the damage.

"Who knew that buy a wand would be so dangerous?" Naruto mumbled in a worrisome voice.

"It would seem that this was not the right wand," Ollivander chuckled as he stowed the Aspen wand away under his counter, "let's keep trying."

"Hey, old man," Naruto frowned at Ollivander, "what happens if none of these wands work for me?"

"Nonsense," the wand maker smiled at Naruto again, "there's a wand for every witch and wizard here at Ollivanders - the wand chooses the wizard, after all."

"The wand chooses the wizard?" Naruto repeated with a nonplussed expression.

"That's right," Ollivander handed another wand to Naruto, “this one is Beech and Unicorn Hair, ten and a half inches, brittle."

Naruto aimed the new wand at a jug of water on the counter; accidentally making it shatter - sending glass and water everywhere.

"I swear I'm not doing this on purpose, y'know!" Naruto said defensively as he held his hands up - as though he was surrendering himself.

"I know," Ollivander reassured the blond, "this is all normal," he surveyed another wand in his hand while muttering to himself again, "hm… Holly and Phoenix Feather, eleven and a half inches, nice and supple? No. Perhaps… Alder and Unicorn Hair, ten inches, brittle? Definitely not. Aha! Try this one, I think it should be a good match," Ollivander finally swapped the Beech wand for another and watched in anticipation.

As soon as he touched the wand, Naruto felt a warming sensation spread through his body from his fingertips; he swished the wand towards the shop door - expecting another destructive force to rip the door from its hinges - but instead sparks of silver, gold and blue erupted from the end of the wand; showering down around Naruto until they fizzled away into nothing.

"Excellent!" Ollivander clapped gleefully. "It seems like Cypress and Phoenix Feather, twelve inches and reasonably supple is the wand for you, Mr Uzumaki."

"Really?" Naruto gazed down at the handsome wand in his hand.

"Well done," Iruka chimed; ruffling Naruto's hair affectionately.

Ollivander took the wand and carefully placed it back in the box; which he then wrapped in brown paper and handed to Naruto in exchange for seven golden Galleons.

Naruto and Iruka gave Ollivander their thanks and bade goodbye to the old wand maker - Naruto still feeling guilty for the amount of damage that he had caused - as they exited the shop; pausing only to hold the door open for a family of four ebony haired people who entered Ollivanders as Naruto and Iruka left.

"What's next, Iruka?" Naruto asked as they slowly headed towards the entrance of Diagon Alley.

"I think that's everything," Iruka heaved a relieved sigh while he read through the Hogwarts list one last time, "we should head back to the Leaky Cauldron and book you a room."

"Will you be staying with me?"

"Sorry, Naruto." Iruka gave the boy an apologetic look. "I have a few matters to attend to, but I will be back in three days to see you off to Hogwarts."

Naruto pouted at the older man, "promise you won't be late this time?"

"I promise," Iruka stopped to slide the shopping list into Naruto's backpack and readjust his grip on the many bags that he was carrying.

Iruka accompanied Naruto to the Leaky Cauldron and spoke to the barman. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, Iruka obtained a key to one of the many bedrooms at the inn. He helped Naruto carry all of his shopping up the stairs and to the room with the number nine nailed into it's wooden door.

"Make sure you eat properly, get enough sleep, wash daily, don't go out after dark - especially into the muggle community - and don't spend all of your money," Iruka warned the blond in a firm voice as he and Naruto packed all of the boy's belongings into a new Hogwarts trunk.

"Wanna add anything else, mum?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at Iruka.

"Yeah, I've asked Tom - the innkeeper - to keep an eye on you while I'm gone, so don't think I won't know what you're up to." Iruka warned the boy, but his expression quickly softened. "If you get into any trouble or have any concerns, I want you to send me an owl straight away."

"But I don't have an owl."

"Ask Tom, I'm sure he'll have one," Iruka suggested, "if not, there's a post office in Diagon Alley - the owls will know where to go," Iruka gave Naruto an fond smile, "I'll see you soon, Naruto."

"See ya around," Naruto beamed back at the brunette as the older man departed with a small wave.

* * *

 

Naruto was woken up at dawn by a low croaking noise.

His newfound freedom still seemed very surreal to Naruto; although he tried to push any thoughts of the orphanage to the back of his mind, he still expected to find himself in his tiny bedroom, staring at the plain ceiling as he woke up from this pleasant dream.

He sat up; yawning and stretching, to see that his toad had managed to escape from it's glass tank and was now hopping around near the open window.

"Whoa!" Naruto sprung out of his bed and grabbed the toad; he gave a sigh of relief and raised the toad so that they were face to face. "You can't just go off exploring like that, y'know - you could've killed yourself," he lectured the toad, but received nothing but blank eyes and another low croak in response. "Oh, that reminds me - I haven't given you a name yet," Naruto pondered for a moment, "what about Gamakichi?"

The toad merely stared at Naruto.

"You could be a little more enthusiastic, y'know." Naruto sighed more to himself than to the toad.

After washing and dressing, Naruto headed downstairs into the pub - where Tom had prepared a cooked breakfast for him.

As soon as he had finished his breakfast, Naruto headed through the door that led to the walled courtyard and imitated the same movements that Iruka had used when he had tapped the bricks the day before. He walked through the streets grinning from ear to ear.

The blond decided to look around a shop called Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop; where he found himself enthralled with a set of wet start, no heat fireworks and stink pellets. Naruto laughed mischievously to himself as he imagined the shocked expressions on the other orphans' faces as he set off some of the fireworks in the middle of the night or dropped some stink pellets outside Mrs Birkenhead's office door. Of course he'd be caught - and inevitably punished for it - but it would definitely make the summer holidays more interesting when he returned next year.

The blond spent the day visiting the shops that he and Iruka had missed yesterday. He ate his lunch at Ichiraku's Ramen where Teuchi told Naruto about his own experiences at Hogwarts.

"My daughter will be starting her sixth year in September," Teuchi informed Naruto as he placed a bowl of Miso Ramen in front of the blond, "it would have been nice if you could meet her before you started your first year just so you would know a friendly face, but she's staying with her friend this week."

"What her name?" Naruto asked; trying to get his grip on the chopsticks - feeling quite glad that Iruka wasn't there to laugh at him this time.

"Ayame," Teuchi smiled fondly, "she's the Quidditch Captain for her house group."

"Quidditch?" Naruto cocked his head at Teuchi. "What's Quidditch?"

"It's a sport that's played on broomsticks - there's seven players per team; three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper and a Seeker," Teuchi explained, "the Chasers use a Quaffle to score points through three hoops at either end of the pitch - each hoop is worth ten points - the two Beaters use small bats to aim Bludgers at the opposing team's players, the Keeper guards the three hoops for his team while the Seeker finds and captures the Golden Snitch to end the game and earn his team one hundred and fifty points."

"I think I get it," Naruto said slowly; picturing a bizarre hybrid between netball and rounder's, "so what position does Ayame play?"

"She's a Beater; she may look sweet and innocent, but she sure knows how to swing a bat," Teuchi chuckled lightly, "she reminds me of her mother - she used to be a Beater too."

"What house is Ayame in?"

"Ayame is a Hufflepuff, just like her old man." Teuchi grinned proudly.

"What are the house groups like?"

"I guess Iruka didn't tell you much about the houses then?"

Naruto gave a nervous laugh, "he did, but I can't remember what he said."

"That's alright," Teuchi smiled kindly, "your Hogwarts letter should've had a wax seal on the envelope -"

"You mean this one?" Naruto pulled the parchment envelope put of the pocket of his orange tracksuit bottoms and turned it over to show Teuchi the seal on the back.

"That's the one," Teuchi nodded, "if you look carefully at the seal, you'll see a crest."

"Yeah!" Naruto pointed at the crest. "I saw it last time, but I didn't know what it meant."

"That's the schools crest," Teuchi explained, "on the crest there are four animals for each house group. A lion for Gryffindor, a snake for Slytherin, a badger for Hufflepuff and finally an eagle for Ravenclaw. The houses are named so after the four founders of Hogwarts and each founder valued certain attributes among their students. Godric Gryffindor valued -"

"Bravery, right?"

"Yep! Slytherin?"

"Um…" Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "Aha! I remember! Ambitious and cunning!"

Teuchi nodded encouragingly, "Hufflepuff?"

"Um… they're the loyal and hardworking guys, right?"

"And Ravenclaw?"

Naruto furrowed his brow as he tried to remember what Iruka had said the previous day, "I - I can't remember," Naruto frowned, "don't tell me - I can work it out!"

A snicker reached Naruto's ears; making him look around at the only other customer at Ichiraku's Ramen stall. Sitting at the other end of the stall was a man with a very long, white ponytail - although he was sitting down, Naruto could tell that this man's hair fell to his knees. Naruto could see red markings that started at the man's eyes and streaked down to his jaw line. The man fiddled with a paintbrush in his right hand while he leaned over a piece of paper. The stranger was looking at Naruto out of the corner of his eye with an amused smirk playing on his lips.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" Naruto snapped angrily at the stranger.

"Oh nothing," the man grinned innocently at Naruto.

Naruto glared suspiciously at the man, "what're you writing?"

"It's the sequel to my book; Make Out Paradise," the man held up the papers to show Naruto.

"Make Out Paradise?" Naruto leaned across, snatched the papers from the white haired man's hand and scanned the page thoroughly.

"Don't you think he's a bit young to be reading that?" Teuchi asked the stranger.

"No doubt about it," the man laughed as Naruto's face turned a violent shade of red as the boy's embarrassment became more evident, "that'll teach you a lesson for reading through someone's personal notes without permission, won't it kid?"

"Pervert," Naruto mumbled; thrusting the pages back at the white haired man and turning his attention back towards his ramen to hide his blushing face.

"Come on then, kid." The white haired man prompted; moving into the chair next to Naruto's. "What's Ravenclaw's attribute?"


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update before I go to bed and I’ve gotta admit, I’m reading through half of this and thinking “what the fuck? Why did I write this?” and my lord did I like the word “y’know” when I first wrote this - I can see why someone ended up leaving a review about its excessive use. 
> 
> So I’ve changed a few things in this chapter… again… but not much to worry about. 
> 
> Another big, big thank you to those who have left kudos, subscribed, bookmarked or even just read this fic - it really means a lot to me, you guys are awesome
> 
> Either way, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Naruto stared at the white haired stranger with a mingled expression of confusion and shock. He blinked a few times before he regained his confidence and his voice.

"Why should I talk to a creepy old pervert when I don't even know who you are?" Naruto huffed; turning back to his ramen again.

“Then allow me to introduce myself," the stranger offered, "I am the most holy Hermit Sage of the Mount. Myoboku toads; otherwise known as the Toad Sage, Jiraiya!" The man struck an impressive pose as he grinned at the blond boy.

Naruto stared back at the white haired man with an expression of disinterest before he slowly raised his arm to point at Jiraiya, "Pervy Sage," he dubbed the man.

"Pervy Sage?" The man repeated in a disgruntled tone while Teuchi laughed at him.

"Well you are!" Naruto argued defensively. "I don't know what a Sage is, but you're definitely a pervert!"

"Haven't you ever heard of respecting your elders, brat?"

"Haven't you ever heard of setting an example, pervert?"

"Heh," Jiraiya smirked as he eyed Naruto, "I like you, kiddo. What's your name?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked at Jiraiya; taken aback by the abrupt change of subject. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Naruto Uzumaki, eh?" Jiraiya mused. "By the way Naruto, Ravenclaw is the house for the intellectual."

"I said don't tell me!" Naruto burst angrily while Jiraiya threw his head back in hysterical laughter. "What did you have to go and tell me for? I was so close, y'know!"

"Of course you were," Jiraiya teased; shoving Naruto's chopsticks back into the blond's hands, "now hurry up and eat your ramen before it gets cold."

Naruto begrudgingly obliged; glaring at Jiraiya while he ate his noodles. As soon as Naruto had finished his bowl, Jiraiya placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder to prevent the boy from leaving and ordered two more bowls of Teuchi's ramen for himself and the blond.

"What's this for?" Naruto enquired; tilting his head to one side in bewilderment.

"Let's just say that I'm treating you," Jiraiya offered with a smile as he began to eat his own bowl of ramen.

"But why?"

"Because I feel like it," Jiraiya replied with a shrug, "tell me a little about yourself, brat."

Naruto swallowed his mouthful of noodles and gazed up at the stall's ceiling pensively, "there's not really much I can tell you - I don't know anything about my parents or if I have any other family, I grew up in an orphanage so I didn't have any friends until I met Iruka. I was schooled in the orphanage so there's not much to say about that either," Naruto frowned, "I guess that's it.”

"Nonsense," Jiraiya chuckled, "surely you have some hobbies?"

"I like pulling pranks," Naruto shrugged.

"That's a start," Jiraiya nodded at Naruto, "got any likes or dislikes?"

"Hm…" the blond contemplated his answer, "I like Iruka and I like old man Teuchi's ramen - but I don't like Mrs Birkenhead or the other kids at the orphanage; they always look at me as though I'm some… some kind of monster," Naruto scowled for a moment before turning back to Jiraiya, "what's with all the questions?"

"Just trying to get to know you," Jiraiya stated; finishing his ramen - he paid Teuchi for both bowls of noodles and stood up; storing his papers away inside his green kimono shirt, "I suggest that you pick up a copy of Hogwarts: A History if you're passing by Flourish and Blotts," Jiraiya gave a small wave as he backed out of the ramen stall.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Naruto exclaimed; jumping off of his chair and scanning the street for the white haired man - but he had already disappeared, "hey, he's gone already!"

"That was Jiraiya; other than Iruka, he is one of my best customers," Teuchi told Naruto as the boy ducked back into the stall and regained his seat, "he's one of the Legendary Sannin."

"Legendary Sannin?"

"Some wizards can form an elite magical unit; Jiraiya - along with two others - formed one of these elite units during the recent Wizarding War. Due to their efforts in the war, they were awarded the title of Legendary Sannin by some feudal lord."

"Why Sannin?" Naruto crinkled his nose. "Why not warlock or sorcerer?"

"Sannin literally translates to three ninja, so their full title is actually Legendary Three Ninjas," Teuchi explained, "I've heard that the Legendary Sannin are almost on a completely different level of magic and utilise their spells in a fashion that is a hybrid of their magical abilities as well as their ninja heritage; hence the title. I've heard of wizards who don't need to use a wand, but I've never though that they'd actually exist - well, apart from Albus Dumbledore, of course."

"Is Albus Dumbledore a Sannin too?"

"No, he's much stronger and - as far as I’m aware - he doesn’t have any shinobi in his family tree," Teuchi shook his head with a small laugh, "the only person I can think of who even came close to Albus Dumbledore is Hiruzen Sarutobi - he was Jiraiya's mentor before the war started. Later, Jiraiya went on to train his own elite student - who was nicknamed the Yellow Flash; it's rare to find such an elite wizard, but their skills are said to be a mixture between that of a ninja and a wizard."

"The old pervert is that powerful?" Naruto stared at Teuchi incredulously. "How to I become one of these Legendary Sannins too?"

"It takes years of training and will power," Teuchi chuckled at Naruto's enthusiasm, "it would be best for you to focus on your studies at Hogwarts before you start thinking about Sannin level magic."

"Maybe I can ask the Pervy Sage to help me," Naruto murmured thoughtfully, "I'm gonna go and ask him, y'know. Thanks for the ramen, old man!"

Naruto dashed from Ichiraku's Ramen and raced around Diagon Alley in search of the white haired wizard; ignoring the calls and yells of other witches and wizards who told him to slow down or watch where he was going.

After searching through Diagon Alley for what felt like the umpteenth time, Naruto begrudgingly returned to the Leaky Cauldron; stopping in Flourish and Blotts on the way to purchase a copy of Hogwarts: A History - as Jiraiya had suggested; he planned to read through the book and get ahead of the old pervert for their next meeting.

He greeted Tom as he walked past the barman and ascended the stairs to room number nine; where he finally collapsed on his bed and succumbed to his exhaustion.

* * *

 

Iruka entered the small pub; shaking his sodden cloak off of his shoulders and draping it over his arm.

"Morning," Tom inclined his head at the brunetre.

"Good morning," Iruka smiled wearily, "Is he ready yet?"

"I woke him up, but I think he's fallen asleep again," Tom shook his head, "he's been running around Diagon Alley since you left; he'll leave just after dawn and come back just before sunset. He said that he’s looking for the Pervy Sage or something - I haven't a clue what he's on about."

"I dread to think," Iruka sighed as he began to climb us the stairs, "I'm going to go and check on him."

Iruka walked down the corridor until he reached room number nine; where he stopped and gently rapped his knuckles against the door.

"Naruto?" Iruka called through the door. "Is it alright to come in?"

No answer came.

"Naruto?" Iruka called out again as he grew more worried - the brunette clasped his hand around the door handle and slowly pushed the door open.

Inside the room, he found Naruto hanging awkwardly off of the side of his bed; tangled up in his blankets with his face pressed against the floor. The orange toad with purple markings was happily sitting on Naruto's head. Iruka moved closer to the boy with intentions of shaking him awake, but he quickly stopped in his tracks after he caught a glimpse of a strange marking on the boy's partially visible midriff; the first thing that came to the brunette's mind was bruising.

Iruka stooped down into a kneeling position on the floor next to the blond and gently lifted Naruto's pyjama top - whilst making sure that he was careful enough not to wake the boy.

The marking was vibrant; almost as though it was a fresh tattoo, it started from the blond's abdomen and spiralled out wards. Above and below the spiral feature were two more markings - almost connecting as though they were encasing the spiral - eight short prongs spurred off of the encasing markings.

Iruka lowered the pyjama top and frowned to himself; he had never seen an imprint such as this before and certainly not on anyone as young as Naruto.

Iruka remained in deep thought for a moment before deciding that the best course of action would be to research the mysterious marking.

Iruka finally nudged the blond, "Naruto, wake up!"

"Mmm?" Naruto murmured groggily. "Five more minutes."

"Naruto, come on," Iruka gave the boy a hard shove; causing the rest of the blond's body to crash to the floor. Iruka winced but did not drop his stern demeanour, "we'll be late if you don't hurry up."

Naruto slowly sat up; holding Gamakichi in one hand while rubbing his eye with the other, "Iruka?" Naruto blinked at the brunet haired man. "When did you get here?"

"Ten minutes ago."

"And why am I on the floor?"

"Because you fell out of bed," Iruka sighed again as he rose to his feet, "come on, get yourself washed and dressed - we have to get you to King's Cross Station before eleven o'clock."

Iruka stepped out of the room to give the blond some privacy.

Naruto quickly dressed himself; throwing his pyjamas inside his Hogwarts trunk along with the books and robes that be had managed to leave strewn around his room in the past few days. He struggled to close the lid of the trunk, but finally managed to clamp the lid shut after throwing all of his weight on top of it. Naruto heaved a sigh of relief as he delicately placed his wand in the waistband of his orange track suit bottoms; hiding the wand's handle beneath his black t-shirt. He picked up Gamakichi, dropped the toad in his glass tank and tucked the tank safely under his arm while dragging his trunk with his free hand.  
The blond finally trudged down the stair to meet the brunet haired man who was still waiting for him in the pub.

The pair waved goodbye and gave their thanks to Tom as they headed out of the door; into the muggle world, and climbed into the back of the black taxi that Iruka had arrived in earlier.

"Sorry about that," Iruka apologised to the taxi driver with a nervous laugh as he fastened his seatbelt, "someone decided to have a bit of a lay-in."

Naruto shuffled in his seat guiltily.

"No problem," the taxi driver replied coolly; although Naruto was certain that he could hear a little annoyance in the man's tone, "where to?"

"King's Cross Station, please," Iruka requested politely - he flashed Naruto a small smile as the taxi pulled away from the curb and joined the queue of traffic, "looking forward to your first year of school, Naruto?" Iruka asked in a quiet voice as the taxi driver turned the volume on his radio up.

"I'm a little nervous," Naruto admitted with a shrug.

"That's understandable," Iruka nodded knowingly, "how was your time at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Good," Naruto grinned, "I went back to Ichiraku's every day - so I'm pretty good friends with old man Teuchi. He told me about his daughter and a sport called… uh… quid… qui… quail… quill…" Naruto stared at Iruka with a quizzical expression.

"Quidditch," Iruka smirked as he finished Naruto's sentence.

"Right!" Naruto's enthusiasm returned. "And I found a joke shop too, I got some stuff in there - like some fireworks."

"I can imagine," Iruka chuckled; he was suddenly reminded of his days as the class clown at Hogwarts, "be careful with them, you could get yourself into some serious trouble if you're caught pulling pranks."

"They'll have to catch me first," Naruto laughed mischievously, "hey, that reminds me! I met this really powerful guy at Ichiraku's."

"Oh?"

"I met the Pervy Sage,” Naruto told Iruka happily.

"I was going to ask you about that Sage character," Iruka frowned slightly.

"Huh?" Naruto cocked his head at the older man.

"Did he tell you his name?"

"Hm," Naruto folded his arms across his chest and pouted to himself while he tried to remember the conversation between the white haired man and himself, "he told me that he was the Toad Sage of Mount. something-or-rather."

"Mount. Myoboku?" Iruka offered.

"That's it!" Naruto beamed, "Old man Teuchi said that he's a Legendary Sannin, but he's just an old pervert if you ask me."

"That must be Jiraiya," Iruka mused to himself in a quiet voice.

"Do you know the Pervy Sage then?" Naruto asked with a hopeful expression.

"I know of him - but I've never actually met him." Iruka confessed.

"Damn it,” Naruto whispered with a crestfallen look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"I wanted to ask him to teach me to be a legendary Sannin too."

"Teach you to be a Legendary -" Iruka blinked at Naruto before a smile stretched across his features, "let's just get you through school before you try and overcome such a big feat, okay Naruto?" Iruka ruffled the blond's hair playfully.

* * *

 

The taxi slowed to a halt outside King's Cross Station. Iruka paid the taxi driver while Naruto retrieved his trunk from the boot of the car and placed it on top of a metal luggage trolley; along with Gamakichi's glass tank.

Naruto watched over his shoulder as the taxi drove away and blended in with the rest of the traffic.

"Iruka, how are you going to get home?" Naruto asked; following the brunette as he pushed the trolley.

"I'll apparate," Iruka replied with a small shrug, "I live in a fairly busy area so it's easier to apparate without gaining the muggles' attention, but I always make sure I apparate within my wards, just to be safe."

"Wards?"

"Magical barriers; just to keep the muggles unsuspicious," Iruka elaborated as he pulled a small envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Naruto, "keep that safe, it's your train ticket."

"Got it,” the blond nodded; stopping for a few moments to take the envelope and tuck it away in his trouser pocket.

"This way," Iruka steered Naruto towards platforms nine and ten.

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion as he glanced around himself, "I can't see any other Hogwarts students."

"They're around," Iruka reassured the blond with an encouraging smile, "they'll be dressed in muggle clothes - just like we are," the older man explained.

"Wait," Naruto stared at Iruka, "how are you supposed to get a whole school of wizards onto one of these trains without the muggles noticing or at least have one of them accidentally board the wrong train?"

"Easy," Iruka chuckled, "we have a magically concealed platform."

"Really? Where?"

"There," Iruka clasped a hand around Naruto's shoulder to stop the boy in his tracks and with the other hand he pointed at a solid brick pillar between platforms nine and ten.

Naruto glanced between Iruka and the pillar disbelievingly. "Are… are you sure?"

"Positive," Iruka bowed his head seriously, "all you have to do is run at the pillar."

"You're pulling my leg, aren't you?" Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the brunette. "I'm not falling for it."

Iruka heaved a weary sigh, "good grief - come on, Naruto. We only have fifteen minutes before your train leaves."

"You go first then."

"Huh?" Iruka tilted his head to one side slightly.

"Prove to me that its not a joke," Naruto challenged the man.

"Alright - I will," Iruka shook his head at the boy, "but you have to admit that I was right when you get on the platform."

"Fine," Naruto accepted; he then watched expectantly as the older man braced himself for a run up to the pillar, "wait, you're seriously going to do it?" The blond arched one of his eyebrows at Iruka.

"Of course I am," Iruka smirked.

The older man jogged towards the pillar - dodging around any stray muggles - and then he disappeared into the pillar; as though the brick work had swallowed him whole.

Naruto did a double take and even left his trolley to check the other side of the pillar - in case Iruka had somehow snuck behind it to trick him. Naruto surveyed the surrounding Muggles with a bemused expression; they had merely continued about their daily lives as though nothing had happened. Naruto quickly returned to his trolley and eyed the pillar once more.

"Well, here goes nothing," he murmured to himself as he followed in Iruka's footsteps; closing his eyes tightly and flinching violently as the brick pillar drew closer.

He waited for the collision, but it didn't happen.

Naruto slowed himself down and opened his eyes cautiously to find Iruka standing beside a large, scarlet steam train with his arms folded and a smug look on his face.

"Alright, you was right!" Naruto burst. "There's no need to look so stuck-up about it, y'know!"

"Come on then, you knucklehead," Iruka laughed as he joined Naruto's side, "let's find you a carriage."

The pair walked down the platform in search of an empty compartment on the train.

Naruto gazed about himself; noticing that some students were already dressed in their Hogwarts robes and others were calling out to their friends after a long summer apart.

He spotted a sign that read Platform Nine and Three Quarters; he had to double take after momentarily forgetting that he had passed through a magical barrier to reach the platform.

The pair stepped onto the train - Iruka helped Naruto with his trunk - to have a better chance at finding an empty compartment.

"I found one!" Iruka called back to the blond as he slid open a compartment door.

Naruto hurried to Iruka's side - dragging the heavy trunk behind him - and peered inside the compartment. Although it was small, the compartment still seemed quite homely; there were two seats opposite each other, a table was folded down beneath the window and there was an overhead storage compartment.

Iruka helped Naruto hoist his trunk into one of the overhead storage areas - as the blond was too short to reach it on his own.

"Th- thanks, Iruka," Naruto panted as he flopped himself down on one of the train seats.

Iruka smiled at the blond as he securely fastened Gamakichi's tank next to Naruto's trunk. He then tugged a drawstring bag from his shoulders and handed it to Naruto.  
"I've packed some lunch for you - it's not much, but it should keep you going until you get to Hogwarts."

Naruto peeked inside the bag curiously.

"You made me a lunch?" Naruto asked in a confused tone.

"Of course I did - I didn't want you to get hungry," Iruka replied, "a sweet trolley will come round to your compartment as well so if you still feel hungry you can always grab a pasty or something," Iruka paused for a moment, "I probably won't see you again for a while."

"You won't?" Naruto frowned up at Iruka.

"I'll be coming to Hogwarts soon to teach the sixth years,” Iruka explained, "but it's very likely that I will be visiting during your lesson time - the probability that we'll see each other isn't very high."

"Oh," Naruto gazed at the carriage floor with a crestfallen expression.  
Iruka gave a small jump of surprise as a whistle sounded on the platform.

"I have to go," Iruka told the blond, "I hope we meet again soon - if you need anything, just send me an owl, okay?"

"Right," Naruto gave the older man a smile - although the brunette could tell that the smile was somewhat forced.

Iruka ruffled Naruto's blond locks affectionately before he hurried back onto the platform; leaving Naruto to stare out of the window, searching the platform for the familiar brunet as the train shuddered into motion.

After finally pinpointing the man, Naruto waved goodbye to Iruka - who returned the wave - until the platform fell out of sight under the downpour of rain.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I might be able to do three of these chapters today - let’s see how the day goes. 
> 
> I’ve changed a few things around in this chapter due to plans in the plot that I apparently didn’t think about when I originally wrote this. 
> 
> And I apologise in advance if there are any mistakes in this fic (I’m not very good at spotting them) and edits is harder on mobile (my computer is inaccessible due to Christmas presents at the moment)
> 
> Thank you again to those who left kudos, subscribed, bookmarked or even just read this fic - you’re all amazing
> 
> As I said above, I might be able to upload another two chapters today - but that’ll depend on how the day goes and my mood - I’m in the mood to write a bit more on two of my Final Fantasy XV fics
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!   
> ~Fox

Naruto continued to stare out of the train window in a daze long after the train had departed from Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

After spending the majority of the past week with Iruka's company, Naruto was finding the concept of the brunette's absence rather daunting - especially as he didn't know when he would see Iruka again - although he was sure that he would make new friends at Hogwarts, the blond couldn't help but think that he would feel quite alone without the older man.

He shook the thoughts from his head and focused on what little of the scenery of the outer areas of London that he could see through the curtain of rain.

His attention was drawn away from the window to the compartment door when he heard the sound of knocking upon the glass; he saw a boy who had brunette hair that was pulled back into a messy ponytail - in the exact same style as Iruka's - with dark, sharp eyes and a rather tiresome expression. The other boy wore a pair of silver stud earrings and a set of plain black Hogwarts robes.

Naruto blinked at the boy in confusion as he rose to his feet and opened the compartment door.

"Sorry to be a pain, but would it be okay if we joined you?" The boy asked as he motioned between himself and another boy who was stood behind him.

The second boy had a much wilder appearance; his hair was short and ruffled, his eyes were dark and he had canine-like teeth - that were visible due to his mischievous grin. This boy had a red, fang-like marking on either cheek and was also wearing his Hogwarts robes - but he wasn't as smartly dressed as the first boy; his shirt was untucked, he wore his tie loosely around his neck and he was still wearing a pair of white trainers on his feet. Tucked under the second boy's arm was a small, white dog with brown markings around it's ears and mouth.

"Sure," Naruto stepped aside to let the two newcomers enter the train compartment.

"Thanks," the second boy grinned at Naruto.

"Don't mention it," Naruto shrugged as he surveyed the two boys, "are you guys first years too?"

"Yeah," the first boy replied as he stretched and yawned.

"So I guess we'll be in the same classes," Naruto laughed nervously, "my name is Naruto Uzumaki."

"Kiba Inuzuka," The boy with the dog introduced himself, "and this is Akamaru," he motioned towards the dog.

"I'm Shikamaru Nara," the other boy waved lazily, "I was looking for a compartment and I picked up a stray along the way," Shikamaru smirked as he jerked his thumb at Kiba.

"Hey!" Kiba yelled indigently.

Naruto laughed more freely, "I guess you guys haven't known each other for very long then?"

"Not long? I’ve known Shikamaru for years - he’s always insulting me though," Kiba pouted in a sulky manner, "but this still beats sitting with my sister," he added with a resigned sigh.

"Your sister?" Naruto cocked his head curiously at Kiba.

"Yeah, she's in her seventh year," Kiba rolled his eyes, "she's been smothering me since I got my Hogwarts letter."

Shikamaru raised a curious eyebrow at Kiba, "you kept that quiet, what house is she in?"

"You never asked - anyway, she’s a Gryffindor; just like my mum was," Kiba replied with an indifferent shrug, "I guess that Gryffindor is where I'll end up too."

"Not necessarily," Shikamaru countered, "just because your mother and sister were Gryffindors, doesn't mean you will be a Gryffindor too - you could have a completely different set of traits that are best suited to one of the other house groups."

"I thought families were usually put in the same house group," Kiba mused more to himself than to the others.

"Although that may be common, it's not always true," Shikamaru reasoned, "I have no siblings to compare with, but my father told me that he was a Ravenclaw, whereas my uncle; Suzaku Nara, was a Gryffindor - despite the fact that they were brothers.”

"How do we get sorted into the house groups?" Naruto asked; cocking his head at the two boys - they both seemed to know quite a lot about the house groups already or at least they certainly knew more than Naruto did.

"I heard that we have to do a test," Kiba disclosed confidently.

"A - a test?" Naruto swallowed; a sense of dread rising in his chest - would he be forced to return to Birkenhead Orphanage if he failed?

"What kind of test?" Shikamaru enquired; seeming quite undeterred at the thought.

"I dunno," Kiba admitted, "I bet it's gonna be something real tough, though - maybe we'll have to duel against each other."

Shikamaru gave a snort of laughter, "I don't think so."

"Why not? It's totally possible!" Kiba argued defensively.

"Come on," Shikamaru gave Kiba an exasperated stare, "they're not going to make us duel each other as soon as we get there - besides, we don't even know any spells yet."

"Alright then, smart-arse; how do you think we're gonna get sorted?" Kiba retorted.

"I dunno," Shikamaru shrugged honestly, "The whole house group seems too troublesome if you ask me."

* * *

 

The train flashed past countryside scenes and small towns or villages.

The conversation between Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru changed between Hogwarts Houses, Quidditch, spells until the topic of family finally returned; Naruto had chosen to sit back and listen with interest as Shikamaru and Kiba discussed their family history and favourite memories.

Naruto had learnt that Shikamaru's father worked as an official at the Ministry of Magic - the blond had found himself beginning to wonder whether Shikamaru's father worked alongside Iruka - but Shikamaru never elaborated on the matter. Whereas Shikamaru's mother once worked as a healer at St. Mungo's Hospital. Kiba's father had divorced Kiba's mother and ran away when he way still young - apparently Kiba's mother had scared him off, or so Kiba had said so anyway - but his mother worked as a veterinarian for magical beasts and often trained dogs to channel their magic for tracking and hunting purposes; Kiba's older sister - who Naruto now knew as Hana - worked as an apprentice to her mother during the school holidays.

"What about you, Naruto?" Kiba asked; dragging the blond into their conversation.

"Huh?" Naruto stared at the boy with a startled expression.

"What do your parents do for a living?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Er… I don't know," Naruto ruffled his hair sheepishly, "I don't actually know my parents, y'know."

"You don't know them?" Kiba frowned.

"I don't know their names, what they look like or anything - I grew up in an orphanage," Naruto explained, "and I never had any photos - I mean, they left a note, but that only had my name written on it so I don't really know anything about my parents."

"Do you know if your parents were a witch and a wizard?" Shikamaru asked.

"I think so," Naruto shrugged half-heartedly, "Iruka found a match with my grandfather, but he couldn't find anything about my mum and dad."

"If they were a witch and a wizard, there's a very high chance that they were Hogwarts students," Shikamaru offered, "maybe you should take a look at the school records sometime."

"I didn't think about that," Naruto confessed thoughtfully.

"If you look in the right place, you should be able to find some names of your relatives," Shikamaru told the blond, "Uzumaki seems like a fairly unique name, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Maybe you could talk to someone at the Ministry of Magic too, I'm sure they have some sort of registration system to keep tabs over the magical community - you'll probably need some sort of proof of identity though."

"Proof of identity?"

"Something like a birth certificate. In fact, your parents names will be on your birth certificate."

"I don't think I have one," Naruto mused quietly.

"Everyone's got a birth certificate," Shikamaru smirked, "maybe your guardian is looking after yours."

"I dunno," Naruto grimaced, "I was always told that I was left at the orphanage with nothing except my name," Naruto heaved a heavy sigh.

"How do you know all of this?" Kiba gave Shikamaru an incredulous look.

"Mostly from listening to my dad," Shikamaru shrugged, "he used to deal with this stuff all the time - he still dabbles in it every now and then, but he mostly deals with international relations now.”

"Can't they just use my magic thing?" Naruto piped up curiously.

"Magic thing?" Kiba stared at Naruto quizzically.

"I think he might be referring to his magical signature," Shikamaru explained.

"Yeah, that thing." Naruto nodded at Shikamaru.

"I suppose they could," Shikamaru glanced out of the window thoughtfully, "I don't really know how this stuff works. Anyway, you might be still a bit too young to look into this stuff without drawing yourself towards unrealistic expectations - I think that you're better off if you wait until you're a little older, you would be taken more seriously by other members of the wizarding community."

* * *

 

The journey to Hogwarts had been longer than Naruto had anticipated - not that he minded though, he had plenty of time to get to know Shikamaru and Kiba; they had fun teasing Naruto after one of the chocolate frogs they had purchased from the sweet trolley leaped from onto the suspecting blond's face; causing Naruto to yelp in surprise.

Seeing as the pair were born and raised within the Wizarding world, Shikamaru and Kiba taught Naruto about the different blood statuses and noble families in the magical community; the Black, Hyūga, Malfoy and Senju families to name a few - although Kiba's input seemed quite minimal as he did not seem very knowledgeable on the topic; but he did seem quite eager to tell Naruto about some magical beasts.

The train finally slowed to a halt; as he glancing out of the window, Naruto's eyes fell upon a sign - that was lit up by an old fashioned gas lamp - that read 'Hogsmeade Station'.

"Hogsmeade Station?" Naruto blinked at the sign a few times; just to be sure that he hadn't misread the sign, before turning his confused gaze to his new friends; feeling panic course through his mind at the thought of being on the wrong train, "I thought we were going to Hogwarts."

"Hogsmeade is the name of the village outside of Hogwarts," Shikamaru shook his head wearily, "you should go and change into your robes, we'll take your stuff for you and meet you on the platform."

"Right," Naruto ruffled his hair sheepishly as he glanced down at his orange track suit bottoms and t-shirt, “thanks guys.”

As soon as he had changed into his Hogwarts robes, Naruto rejoined Kiba and Shikamaru on the platform; where they were waiting for the blond.

"Hey," the blond greeted with a wide grin; he then cast his eyes around them in bewilderment, "what happened to our stuff?"

"Didn't you hear the announcement?" Kiba asked; giving Naruto an incredulous look.

"Announcement?" Naruto quirked a questioning eyebrow at Kiba.

"Our luggage is being taken up to the school separately," Shikamaru informed the blond, "this little guy is yours, right?" Shikamaru held up an orange toad with familiar purple markings.

"Gamakichi!" Naruto beamed happily as he took the toad. "Thanks, Shikamaru."

"Don't mention it."

"A toad?" Kiba wrinkled his nose slightly as he concealed Akamaru inside his school robes. "I'd never have put you down as a toad guy, Naruto."

"What's wrong with toads?" Naruto enquired defensively; narrowing his eyes at Kiba.

"They're just not cool," Kiba shrugged. "besides, yours looks as though it might be poisonous," he added surveying the Gamakichi a little closer.

"I doubt they'd let him bring a poisonous toad to Hogwarts," Shikamaru rolled his eyes impatiently before pouting at the perturbing lump in Kiba's robes, "at least a toad is easier to hide, do you really think you're going to smuggle that dog into the sorting without gaining their suspicion?"

"I'm not leaving Akamaru on the train!" Kiba argued. "He'll be scared and lonely! And what if someone comes and takes him?"

"This is too troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled, "do what you want to do, but if you get into trouble, it's you're own fault."

"Hang on," Naruto frowned at Kiba, “I thought that our letters said that we were only allowed to bring a cat, toad or an owl?"

"Yeah, so what?" Kiba shrugged.

"Then why did you bring a dog?"

"Oh, like they're going to pick up on it," Kiba dismissed Naruto's question with a small wave, "besides, those letters were more like guidelines than rules."

"Firs' years, over here!" Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba gave a startled jump as a deep, booming voice sounded from directly above them. "All firs' years over here!"

The three boys spun on the spot to face a very large man who had a wild tangle of dark hair - with a matching beard - most of the man's face was obscured by the beard, but Naruto could see beetle, black eyes and an excitable grin on the man's face. He wore a large mile skin overcoat and had a black furred dog - who cautiously approached Kiba; sniffing around the boy curiously. As the man continued to call out to the students, more pale faced and terrified looking first years joined Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba to gather around the giant.

"Righ'," the man stared around at the first years, "I think tha's all of yeh. My name is Hagrid, I'm the Keeper o' Grounds an' Key o' Hogwarts - follow me!"

The huge man pivoted and led the first years down a steep and narrow path. The group remained silent until they walked around a bend and their eyes fell upon a very large castle; set in the mountain and well lit against the starry sky.

"Wow!" Someone close to Naruto sighed.

"Oooh!" A pair of girls squealed.

They followed the path until try reached the bank of a vast lake where the man motioned towards a numerous amount of boats waiting for them by the edge of the lake.

"There should be no more'n four per boat." Hagrid announced; flashing the students an encouraging smile; he then helped anyone who was struggling to climb into their boats before claiming the only remaining boat for himself. He then uttered the command, "forward!"

The fleet of boats gently glided over the smooth surface of the lake; as though they were being pulled along by an invisible rope. Naruto peered over the edge of his boat and saw his own reflection staring back at him before he felt a hand grab his shoulder and jerk him back inside the boat.

"I don't think that now is a good time to go for a swim," Shikamaru shook his head at Naruto, "don't lean so far over, you'll capsize the whole boat."

"Heheh, sorry." Naruto chuckled as he settled down more comfortably in the boat.

More gasps came from Naruto's peers as the boats passed through a vast amount of hanging ivy into a large opening in the base of the mountain. They were plunged into darkness as they entered a tunnel; left to trust the Hagrid's sense of direction and the invisible force pulling the boats across the water until they finally reached a brightly lit, underground harbour.

The giant easily stepped out of his boat and then watched as the first years followed his lead; offering help to those who seemed to be struggling again.

"Th-thank you," a girl with very short, dark hair stuttered shyly as Hagrid offered her one of his large hands.

"Everyone here?" The giant asked as he quickly surveyed the group. "Alrigh', follow me. Mind yer step on the stairs."

The students followed Hagrid up a set of stone steps until they were huddled around a huge oak door.

"Welcome ter Hogwarts," Hagrid grinned as his huge fist thudded heavily against the wooden door.

The doors swung open with a loud creak; just beyond the door stood a very stern looking witch; she had dark hair - that had been pulled back into a tight bun - a pair of rectangular spectacles framed her green eyes. She wore long, emerald robes and seemed to be scrutinising each student over the top of her glasses. Naruto was forcibly reminded of a much older version of Mrs Birkenhead - and feared that this woman would have a similar personality.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid announced proudly.

"Thank you, Hagrid," the woman replied in a brisk tone, "I will take them from here."

McGonagall beckoned the first years to follow her into a large Entrance Hall and she led the students towards a small chamber located next to another set of oak doors; where Naruto could hear the chatter and buzzing of the rest of the school.

McGonagall waited until she had ushered them all into the compact chamber before she started to speak, "welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting in a very important ceremony because - while you are here - your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend your free time in your house Common Room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin - each house has it's own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while rule breaking will lose house points - at the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup; a great honour. I hope that each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I shall return when we are ready for you - please wait quietly in the meantime," Professor McGonagall recited the words as though she had repeated them many times before.

Before the witch left the first years in the side chamber, she eyed Kiba's uniform with a pointed expression. Kiba gave her an innocent grin; earning himself a calculating stare from Professor McGonagall.

"I think she knows about Akamaru, y'know." Naruto murmured into Kiba's ear.

"Of course she knows, it couldn't be more obvious," Shikamaru smirked at the lump in Kiba's robes, "she's looking at your uniform, idiot."

"My uniform?" Kiba glanced down at himself; noticing his loose tie and untucked shirt. "Oh."

Kiba unravelled his robes, passed Akamaru to Shikamaru and hastily fixed his uniform before throwing a cautious glance towards Professor McGonagall; who gave Kiba a curt nod as she left the chamber.

As soon as the chamber door closed behind Professor McGonagall, the first years began to chatter amongst themselves.

"I didn't know that we are going to be sorted in front of the whole school," Kiba grimaced as he took the small white dog from Shikamaru.

"You're not nervous, are you?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at Kiba.

"Of course not!" Kiba snapped defensively. "It's just a sorting, no big deal." He added in a mumbled voice.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn’t actually get round to much editing or writing yesterday… sorry guys.
> 
> Anyway, heads up in case you haven’t already read this/ the author’s note on FFN, the sorting hat’s song was taken straight out of Philosopher’s Stone because I was too shy to try to write my own when this was originally written and I’m going to leave my shame here for everyone to see - why not? 
> 
> I can’t really remember if I did my own sorting hat song in Nine Tail’s Jinchūriki - if I didn’t I’ll give it a shot in whatever I call the third one. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks again to those who read, subscribed, bookmarked or left kudos, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
> 
> ~Fox

All talking between the students ceased as the chamber door opened and Professor McGonagall stood before the first years once more.

"Form a line and follow me," the witch ordered; she then watched as the students obliged, "the Sorting Ceremony will now begin."

Naruto began to feel a sense of unease bubbling in his stomach as he and his peers marched out of the chamber behind Professor McGonagall; he found a little comfort in the fact that he had managed to get into the line with Kiba in front of him and Shikamaru just behind. As the giant oak doors next to the chamber swung open; Naruto took his mind off of the staring faces and whispered comments by casting his mind to the Sorting Ceremony and how the sorting of houses was to be conducted.

The blond was drawn back to his senses after he had nearly walked into Kiba - Naruto hadn't realised that they boy in front had stopped walking - and watched with a bemused expression and Professor McGonagall patiently lined the first years up in front of a long table at the end of the grand hall; where the teachers were beaming down at them or nodding at them encouragingly. As soon as the first years were in position, Professor McGonagall placed a three legged stool a few metres in front to the teachers' table.

"A stool?" Kiba murmured; giving Naruto and Shikamaru a quizzical stare.

The pair shrugged in response.

Professor McGonagall placed a rather tattered looking, pointed hat on the stool before standing to one side with a rolled up piece of parchment in hand.

"Maybe we have to conjure a rabbit or something," Naruto whispered more to himself than anyone else.

"Shh!" Shikamaru pressed a finger to his lips and then motioned towards the pointed hat.

Gasps of astonishment issued from the first years - making a few of the other students chuckle in amusement while others simply watched with interested expressions upon their faces as the tear in the brim of the hat opened wide and the hat began to sing.

" _Oh you may not think that I'm pretty,_  
_But don't judge on what you see,_  
_I'll eat myself if you can find,_  
_A smarter hat than me,_  
_You can keep your bowlers black,_  
_Your top hats sleek and tall_  
_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,_  
_And I can cap them all._  
_There's nothing hidden in your head,_  
_The Sorting Hat can't see,_  
_So try me on and I will tell you,_  
_Where you ought to be,_  
_You might belong in Gryffindor,_  
_Where dwell the brave at heart,_  
_Their daring nerve and chivalry,_  
_Set Gryffindors apart;_  
_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_  
_Where they are just and loyal,_  
_Those Hufflepuffs are true,_  
_And unafraid of toil;_  
_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_  
_If you've a ready mind,_  
_Where those of wit and learning,_  
_Will always find their kind;_  
_Or perhaps in Slytherin,_  
_You'll make your real friends,_  
_Those cunning folk use any means,_  
_To achieve their ends._  
_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_  
_And don't get in a flap!_  
_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_  
_For I'm a thinking cap!"_

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion and clapped tentatively as the Great Hall erupted with applause and cheers.

"So that's how we're going to be sorted," Shikamaru mused.

"Huh?" Naruto and Kiba cocked their heads in unison at Shikamaru.

"Weren't you two listening?" Shikamaru sighed impatiently.

"I phased out," Kiba confessed with an innocent grin.

"You put the hat on and it sorts you into one of the four houses," Shikamaru shook his head at Kiba.

"How did you get that from the hat's song?" Naruto have Shikamaru an incredulous stare.

"There's nothing hidden in your head, the Sorting Hat can't see, so try me on and I will tell you, where you ought to be," Shikamaru mimicked the hat's song, "how much more obvious do you want it to be, Naruto?"

The trio turned their attention back towards the pointed hat as the rest of the school quietened and settled down to watch the first years expectantly - Naruto swore that he had heard Kiba mutter something under his breath but he was unable to hear the other boy properly.

"When I call your name, you will put the hat on and sit on the stool to be sorted," Professor McGonagall announced; pulling Naruto out of another stupor - the witch began unfurled the rolled up parchment as she cleared her throat before she called out the first name, "Aburame, Shino."

Naruto watched curiously as a boy with short, brown hair - wearing a pair of round sunglasses - broke away from the rest of the first years, placed the hat in his head and sat down on the stool.

"Why is he wearing sunglasses indoors?" Naruto muttered to Kiba and Shikamaru.

"Who knows?" Shikamaru shrugged dismissively.

"Weirdo," Kiba snorted.

The tear in the hat opened wide and called out, "RAVENCLAW!"

The second table from the left roar with cheers and clapping as the students of Ravenclaw welcomed Shino to their table.

"Akimichi, Chōji."

A plump boy sat on the stool - giving a nervous smile to Shikamaru; who responded with an encouraging wave as Chōji slipped the hat over his head.

"Do you know that kid?" Naruto asked Shikamaru in a quiet voice as silent anticipation fell over the school.

"Yeah," Shikamaru nodded, "our families are very close so we grew up together along with our other friend; Ino."

"So you're related?" Naruto enquired with interest.

"No - at least not to my knowledge, but most Pure Blooded families are related somewhere down the line, so it wouldn't surprise me if our family trees have crossed somewhere," Shikamaru explained, "our dads were just very close friends at school as far as I'm aware."

"What do you mean by Pure Blooded families?" Naruto frowned.

"You really did grow up with Muggles, didn't you?" Kiba sniggered behind his hand.

"If you're a Pure Blood, it means that you have two magical parents, Half Blood means that you have one magical parent and one Muggle parent or one Pure Blooded parent and one Muggle-born parent. Which leaves Muggle-born to mean that you have two non-magical parents," Shikamaru elaborated, "I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you - most of the Wizarding community don't really care much for blood status these days."

"Unless you're a Slytherin," Kiba murmured to himself.

"I don't think that's entirely true," Shikamaru countered, but the conversation was cut short when the Sorting Hat called out again - leaving Naruto feeling confused.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on the right cheered and waved as Chōji finally joined them.

"Fujiwara, Tobio."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The table between the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs rose to their feet and burst into shouts of delight and applause as Tobio sheepishly removed the Sorting Hat and jumped off of the stool.

"Harris, Michelle."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Haruno, Sakura."

Naruto lightly nudged Shikamaru and Kiba to regain their attention as a girl with pink hair nervously perched herself on the stool and carefully placed the pointed hat on her head.

"So what's the deal with Slytherin?" He whispered to his friends.

"They're just an unpleasant lot," Kiba grimaced, "I've that heard that anyone who is sorted into Slytherin has become a dark witch or wizard."

"Nonsense," Shikamaru shook his head at the other boy again.

"It's true! You-Know-Who was a Slytherin, the Lestranges were Slytherins and so were loads of other Death Eaters," Kiba argued in a quiet voice, "not to mention Madara Uchiha!"

"Madara Uchiha wasn't a Death Eater - besides, every house has their fair share of dark witches and wizards , you can't judge a whole house group based on a handful of their students," Shikamaru tutted and rolled his eyes while he watched Sakura Haruno join the Ravenclaw table, "anyway, Merlin was a Slytherin and he was a great sorcerer."

"Merlin is an old wives tale."

"So is Madara Uchiha," Shikamaru retorted with a sigh, “he’s just a myth made up by the Uchiha family.”

“So why is there a big statue of him back home?”

“To teach future generations the importance of friendship and why conflict is bad,” Shikamaru shrugged at Kiba, “there’s never been solid evidence that Madara Uchiha exists.”

“Unless the Uchiha are hiding it for some-“

“Shh!” Shikamaru cut across the brunette as he pressed a finger to his lips and pointed towards Professor McGonagall.

"Hyūga, Hinata." Professor McGonagall continued to read from her scroll.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Inuzuka, Kiba."

"See you later," Kiba grinned at Naruto and Shikamaru before he strutted up to the stool.

"He’s a moron," Shikamaru muttered after their friend.

Naruto stifled his laughter with a cough as he and Shikamaru watched Kiba sit upon the three legged stool with the small white dog resting in his lap.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Naruto leaned towards Shikamaru as the rowdy students cheered for Kiba, "What's a Death Eater?"

"They're followers of You-Know-Who," Shikamaru replied; secretly thankful that he could speak freely without Kiba’s interjections, "he was a dark wizard who was intent on wizard supremacy - he rallied followers who had similar ideals and called them Death Eaters and his plan was to purge the world of all muggle-borns and Muggles. He met his downfall last year."

"His downfall?" Naruto probed.

"I'll tell you another time," Shikamaru promised as Yui Ishida was sorted into Slytherin, "it's a bit of a sour topic, so I'll tell you about it when we're somewhere quieter, just remind me okay?"

"Right," Naruto nodded.

"Kennedy, Rosalyn." Professor McGonagall called out.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat cried.

"Masters, Samantha."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"McCormick, Hadrian."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"McCormick, Haley."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Nara, Shikamaru."

"I'll speak to you later," Shikamaru bade goodbye to the blond, "man, this is such a drag," he muttered under his breath as he sat on the stool and dropped the hat onto his head.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat yelled before it had even brushed Shikamaru's head - the brunette placed the hat on the stool and joined the Ravenclaw students with a half-hearted shrug.

"Paye, Jonathan."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Pettiford, Anthony."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Saitou, Kaito."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Smitt, Paige."

GRYFFINDOR!"

"Sampson, Gwen."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Takahashi, Rin."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Thompson, Elizabeth."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

"SLYTHERIN."

"Uzumaki, Naruto."

Naruto gave a small, startled jump - nearly dropping Gamakichi - as his name was called out. He stepped away from the few remaining first years and tentatively perched himself on the edge of the stool before he slowly put the sorting hat on.

"Hmm… let's see," a voice whispered in Naruto's ears; his eyes darted wildly from side to side instinctively in search of the source of the voice, but his search was futile due to the fact that all he could see was the dark interior of the hat, "I can see loyalty and courage - you have a very mischievous side to you too," the voice sounded amused, "but there's a serious side to you too, you want to establish your worth to those around you - this makes things difficult - hmm…" the hat mused, "I know! GRYFFINDOR!"

Naruto heard the Gryffindor table erupt once more as he quickly removed the pointed hat. He saw Kiba beckoning him over to join him while Shikamaru smirked as he clapped for his friend from the Ravenclaw table. Naruto placed the hat on the stool once more and jogged to the Gryffindor table where his new housemates ruffled his hair and patted him on the back.

The Sorting Ceremony continued as soon as the students had settled down again.

"Vincent, Thomas." Professor McGonagall read the next name from the parchment.

"RAVENCLAW."

"Walker, Christopher."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Weasley, William."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

A boy with shabby robes, ginger hair and a pale complexion with freckle gave Naruto a nervous smile as he was welcomed to the Gryffindor table - meanwhile the final name was announced.

"Yamanaka, Ino."

"SLYTHERIN!"

As the blonde haired girl happily jogged to the Slytherin table, Professor McGonagall picked up the Sorting Hat and the three legged stool while a white haired man wearing midnight blue robes and half-moon spectacles rose to his feet and beamed at the students.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

"Who is he?" Naruto frowned at the white haired man.

"That's Albus Dumbledore; he's the headmaster," the redhead next to Naruto explained, "sorry," the boy apologised with a sheepish grin and a blush crept onto his face; he extended his hand to Naruto, "I should've introduced myself first, my name is Bill Weasley."

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto replied with a wide smile; grasping Bill's hand with his own, "this is my friend, Kiba Inuzuka."

"Hey! Don't forget Akamaru!" Kiba whispered holding the white dog up for Bill to see; he then turned his attention to the redhead. "Yo, nice to meet you, Bill."

Naruto nudged Kiba and nodded towards Professor Dumbledore to regain the boy's attention.

" I would like you all to join me in welcoming our new potions master and head of Slytherin house; Professor Snape," Professor Dumbledore motioned towards a young man with shoulder length, greasy black hair, pale skin and a hooked nose. He wore black robes and had a sullen expression; the man looked as though he were attending a funeral.

"He looks cheerful," Naruto commented in an undertone as he and the rest of the students clapped politely.

"It looks like he's in mourning or something, doesn't it?" Bill whispered.

"He needs some sunlight," Kiba smirked; making Naruto and Bill give a snort of muffled laughter.

"And our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; Professor Orochimaru," Professor Dumbledore introduced another man; who had longer and darker hair than the first. The second man rose from the head table with a grin - letting his hair fall away from his face to reveal paper while skin; with purple markings around his eyes and bright yellow irises. The students began to applause once more.

"He looks even weirder than the other guy," Kiba wrinkled his nose.

"Are they brothers of something?" Naruto asked; staring between Professor Snape and Professor Orochimaru to compare the two men.

"Now, if you would be so kind to accept a few words before we start our feast,” Professor Dumbledore continued, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" The elderly man regained his seat with a very pleased look upon his face and the students erupted with cheers, clapping and whistling.

"What the -?" Naruto stared quizzically at Kiba and Bill.

"Who knows?" Kiba shrugged as he rested Akamaru on his lap and then started to pile food onto his plate. "He seems to be off of his rocker if you ask me."

"Whoa! When did this get here?" Naruto gawked at the food that now adorned the previously bare table.

"Don't just stare at it," Kiba rolled his eyes; nudging Naruto out of his stupor, "otherwise it'll go cold."

Naruto and Bill filled their plates too; never before had Naruto had the freedom to choose what he wanted to eat or how much he wanted - because Birkenhead Orphanage had always had a strict budget to adhere to. Some of Naruto's fellow orphans had once snuck out of the orphanage through a hole in the back garden fence and stole sweets from one of the nearby shops; not because they were hungry, but because they rarely had such luxuries in the orphanage.

Naruto shook his head to push all thought of Birkenhead Orphanage out of his mind as he laughed and joked with Kiba and Bill while they tucked into their feast.

"There you are!" An older girl with long, brown hair - that was tied back into a ponytail - and triangular markings identical to Kiba's sat in a chair opposite Naruto.

"Hullo Hana," Kiba greeted the girl unenthusiastically.

"Hmph! Nice to see you too, Kiba," Hana pouted in a sulky manner before her eyes strayed towards Akamaru, "you better not be feeding him junk food again," the girl lectured Kiba as she motioned towards the puppy in her little brother's lap.

"I'm not!" Kiba replied defensively; but gave a guilty shuffle. "Hey, haven't you got your own friends to pester?"

"I just wanted to come and congratulate you on becoming a Gryffindor," Hana teased; helping herself to some beef stew, "are you going to introduce me to your friends?" Hana gave Naruto and Bill a mischievous wink when Kiba briefly looked away.

Kiba sighed in defeat, "this is Naruto Uzumaki and Bill Weasley - if you were actually paying attention during the sorting, you'd know that."

"There were so many names," Hana sighed dramatically, "how was I supposed to remember them all?"

Naruto snorted into his goblet of pumpkin juice while Bill cleared his throat to disguise his laughter as Kiba shot the pair a glare.

* * *

 

The food disappeared - leaving the plates spotless - only for a large variety of puddings, cakes, sweets and ice-cream to appear; making Naruto regret eating so much of the dinner buffet.

As soon as everyone had had their fill of food and drink, the golden plates were cleared of food once more; looking as though they hadn't been touched by a single crumb.

As soon as everyone had had their fill of food and drink, the golden plates were cleared of food once more; looking as though they hadn't been touched by a single crumb.

Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet again and the students instantly fell into a hushed silence.

"Before you all retire to your warm beds, I would like to make a few announcements," the wizened man began, "the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds."

"Couldn't have worked that one out for ourselves," Kiba muttered sarcastically.

"Shh!" Hana pressed a finger to her lips and gave Kiba a warning glare before turning her attention back towards the headmaster.

"No magic should be used between lessons in the corridors," Professor Dumbledore continued his announcements after the students had settled down again, "and for those of you who are interested, Quidditch try-outs will be held during the second week of term. Lastly, Mr Filch would like me to inform you all that his list of prohibited items has increased; you can see the full list on his office door. Now, let us sing the school song!" Professor Dumbledore beamed excitedly as he withdrew his wand and gave it a flick until a golden substance erupted from the wand's tip to form words in the air above Professor Dumbledore's head.

Naruto heard some quiet groans from the older students and even saw a few of the teachers at the head table heave a weary sigh.

"Pick a tune and sing along!" Professor Dumbledore instructed as he began to sing to the tune of Oranges and Lemons.

The students and teachers followed his lead; some enthusiastically whereas others looked as though they would much rather stand up and leave.

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy, Warty, Hogwarts,_  
_Teach us something please,_  
_Whether we be bold and old,_  
_Or young with scabby knees,_  
_Our heads could do with filling,_  
_With some interesting stuff,_  
_For now they're bare and full of air,_  
_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_  
_So teach us something worth knowing,_  
_Being back what we forgot,_  
_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_  
_And learn until our brains all rot."_

"Music to my ears!" Professor Dumbledore chimed.

"Is he mad?" Naruto at the old man in disbelief. "How did that sound like music?"

"Sounded like a jumbled ruckus to me,” Bill agreed.

"Finally, I think it's time for us all to retire to our beds," Professor Dumbledore declared, "off you go, goodnight!" Professor Dumbledore regained his seat and turned to talk to Professor McGonagall.

"First year Gryffindors, follow me!" A boy's voice called out over the rising noise of the students.

Naruto saw a tall teenager with sandy coloured hair beckoning the Gryffindor first years to himself. The blond tugged on Kiba and Bill's sleeves and led the pair to the older boy.

"Is this everyone?" The boy quickly counted the students who surrounded him. "Good, my name is Peter Applebottom and I'm a Gryffindor prefect - if you would like to follow me, I'll show you where the Gryffindor Common Room is."

Naruto - along with his fellow Gryffindor first years - followed Peter out of the Great Hall and up a set of marble stairs.

"This is the Grand Staircase," Peter announced as he indicated towards flights upon flights of stairs, "we're going straight up to the seventh floor - you have to be careful on these stairs though, they like to move."

"Move?" A girl - who Naruto recognised to be Haley McCormick from the Sorting Ceremony - quirked an eyebrow at Peter.

A low rumble issued from above as a set of stone stairs on the third floor began to shudder into motion.

"Huh, what timing!" Peter snickered. "Yup, the stairs move - there's also a few trick steps dotted around here and there, they can be quite problematic too; especially when you're in a hurry."

"Excuse me, but isn't that kinda dangerous?" Michelle Harris raised her hand slightly as she spoke.

"Probably," Peter shrugged as he began to ascend the stone steps, "let's get a move on before the stairs decide to change again."

The first years shared uncertain glances before they hurried after Peter.


	7. Chapter Seven

Oi! Wake up!" Kiba's voice interrupted Naruto's peaceful slumber; making the blond groan irritably as he rolled over and pulled his duvet over his head. "Come on, this is the fourth time we've tried to wake you up - if you don't hurry up, we'll be late for breakfast."

"I have a jug of water if you want to tip it over his head?" Bill's voice offered.

"I'll do it!" Tobio laughed mischievously.

"You wouldn't dare!" Naruto growled as he sat bold upright; but Kiba had already thrown the water over Naruto's bed.

Naruto's four dorm mates stared in a shocked silence; Kiba tried to hide the now empty jug with a guilty expression.

"At least you don't have to worry about taking a shower now," Kiba ruffled his hair anxiously as Naruto slowly turned his head to glower at him.

Naruto scowled at the brunette, "I'll get you back for that!" The blond jumped out of his sodden bed; ignoring the amused grins and sniggering from Kiba, Bill, Tobio and Anthony. He dried and dressed himself before leaving the boys' dormitory with Kiba and Bill - Anthony and Tobio had already left for breakfast - and headed down to the Great Hall.

Naruto stopped abruptly on a set of stairs after seeing a silvery figure pass through the wall just ahead of Bill, Kiba and himself; the figure seemed to be floating as it crossed the staircase and disappeared through the opposite wall.

"Naruto?" Bill called out to the blond as soon as he had realised the absence of his friend - the redhead glanced back to find Naruto staring at the wall with his mouth hanging opening in a silent scream. "Hey Naruto, are you okay?"

Bill and Kiba retraced their steps until they were standing beside Naruto again.

"Oi, we're talking to you," Kiba waved his hand in front of Naruto's face; jerking the blond out of his stupor, “what's gotten into you?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Naruto spoke in a barely audible whisper; forcing Bill and Kiba to lean closer to him as the concern grew more evident in their expressions, "but I think I just saw a gh-ghost!"

"A ghost?" Kiba frowned.

"Uh huh," the blond nodded.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did," Bill shrugged, "ghosts are very common at Hogwarts."

"You're kidding me, right?" Naruto stared at Bill with a mingled expression of disbelief and panic.

"Why?" Kiba asked with an interested look on his face. "You're not scared of ghosts, are you?"

"O-of course not!" Naruto snapped defensively.

"Are you sure?" Kiba teased; feeling a great sense of misconduct bestow upon himself. "I've heard that you can hear them screaming in the dead of night as they relive their deaths."

Bill rolled his eyes at Kiba, "I don't think that's quite true."

Kiba gave Bill a mischievous wink when Naruto wasn't looking, "it is too - sometimes they come into the dormitory when we're asleep at night to look for the next poor, unfortunate soul to join their endless roam of the earth.”

"No way!" Naruto shuddered.

"Yup, wait until you see one up close - you can still see the skin rotting off of their hands, blood oozing out of their wounds and some of them -"

"That's enough, Kiba!" Bill lectured the brunette sternly. "You're terrifying him!"

"Nah, he's fine. You don't actually believe all of this, do you?" Kiba chuckled as he turned to the blond. "Right, Naruto?" Kiba observed Naruto's pale, wide eyed expression closely. "Okay, maybe I did go a little too far," the brunette muttered to Bill as he tugged the sleeve of Naruto's robes; forcing the blond to move, "its nothing a good breakfast can't fix, though."

With all talk of ghosts pushed to the back of his mind and no more of the translucent apparitions in sight; Naruto managed to enjoy his breakfast while he laughed as joked with Kiba and Bill - Bill had made sure that Kiba apologised to the blond as soon as Naruto had returned to his normal self.

Professor McGonagall walk down the Gryffindor table during breakfast and handed out timetables to all of the students; pausing here and there along the table to discuss lessons with the older students.

"Potions, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts and the History of Magic," Bill read aloud as the pointed to the column titled Thursday on his timetable while Kiba and Naruto surveyed their own.

"You've got your timetables then," a bored voice issued from behind Naruto as Shikamaru dropped into the seat beside the blond and helped himself to a piece of toast, "let's have a look."

Naruto handed his timetable to Shikamaru; who retrieved his own from his pocket to compare the two.

"Have we got any lessons in common?" Naruto asked.

"No," Shikamaru shook his head slowly.

"What lessons have you got today?" Kiba enquired; leaning over the table to read the piece of paper in Shikamaru's hand.

"Charms, Herbology, Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts," Shikamaru replied; examining Naruto's timetable more thoroughly.

"I wonder if we have any lessons with the other house groups," Bill mused more to himself than to the other boys.

"You do," Shikamaru pointed at a box on Naruto's timetable, "I've already checked Chōji's timetable, you guys share your Herbology lessons with the Hufflepuffs, whereas I share mine with the Slytherins - I have my potions lessons and flying lessons with the Hufflepuffs, so you must be with the Slytherins."

Kiba gave a groan and hit his head on the table.

"Don't do that!" Shikamaru huffed. "You might dent the table with your dense head.”

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kiba glared at Shikamaru.

"You shouldn't be so quick to judge the Slytherins anyway," Shikamaru frowned at Kiba, "the rumours about them are greatly exaggerated and you're not going to make any friends with that attitude."

"Whatever," Kiba snorted, "I have my reasons, anyway."

"Which are?"

Kiba didn't respond; instead he remained motionless with his head resting on the table.

"I might as well talk to a brick wall, it'd be less troublesome," Shikamaru muttered to himself wearily, "I'll talk to you guys later, you might want to start heading to you first lesson, otherwise you'll be late."

"Late?" Naruto blinked at Shikamaru in confusion. "We still have twenty minutes before class starts."

"You look like the type of guy who gets lost easily," the Ravenclaw shrugged as he rose to his feet and returned Naruto's timetable to the blond and stared intently at Kiba, "if I'm right, your first lesson is with the Slytherins - it would be wise to keep any opinions about them to yourself; you might even make friends with one. See you around." Shikamaru rose from his seat and strode away from the Gryffindors; leaving Naruto and Bill to share perplexed glances.

* * *

 

Naruto, Kiba and Bill joined the end of a queue waiting outside the potions classroom - the students were clearly split into two groups; one of Gryffindors and the other of Slytherins.

"What's going on?" Bill asked with a confused expression.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Kiba whispered back with a dismissive shrug. "They're Slytherins."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Bill frowned at Kiba.

"Slytherin is full of Death Eaters and the like," Kiba muttered; shooting a glare at the small knot of students wearing the green and black robes.

"Not this again," Naruto groaned as he rolled his eyes; feeling exasperated at the fact that Kiba had elected to ignore Shikamaru's advise.

"Don't you think you're being a bit too stereotypical?" Bill quirked an eyebrow at the brunette

"Well then explain why -"  
Kiba was cut off by the sound of a loud clanging noise followed by the creaking of the large wooden doors swinging on their hinges. Both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins stopped their individual murmured conversations to stare as Professor Snape stepped into the corridor and surveyed the students closely.

"Enter,” the man said in a chilling tone. He continued to stared at the students under his hooked nose as they passed him into the potions classroom.

"He's not creepy at all," Kiba muttered to Naruto and Bill as the trio settled themselves down around the table at the back of the classroom.

Professor Snape re-entered the classroom behind the last student and briskly walked to the front of the classroom - where his own desk was.

"My name is Professor Snape; I will be your Potions Master," he announced as he glanced around at the students with the same surveying stare as before, before he dropped into his own seat and picked up a quill out of his ink pot, "when I call your name, you will answer 'present' or 'yes sir', otherwise you will remain silent unless spoken to." He glanced down at the list in front of him and began to read aloud. "Tobio Fujiwara."

"Present." A boy who Naruto shared his dormitory with replied; sheepishly raising his hand - lowering it again when Professor Snape curtly nodded at him.

"Michelle Harris."

"Present, sir." This time a girl answered the call.

"Kiyomi Hayashi."

"Sir."

"Alexander Hughes."

"Sir."

"Kiba Inuzuka."

"Here, sir." Kiba raised his hand high enough for Professor Snape to see too.

"Yui Ishida."

"Yes sir."

"Haruka Ito."

"Here."

"Arthur Johnson."

"Present."

"Yuka Kaneko."

"Yes sir."

"Rosalyn Kennedy."

"Present."

"Samantha Masters."

"Present."

"Haley McCormick."

"Yes sir."

"Anthony Pettiford."

"Sir."

"Kaito Saitou."

"Present, sir."

"Paige Smitt."

"Yes sir."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Present."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto gave a small start at his name. "Uh, yes sir." He replied; following the lead of most of his peers and raising his hand slightly.

"William Weasley."

"Yes sir," the redhead between Naruto and Kiba answered Professor Snape's call as he shot his two friends a glare while they snickered at him - he lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper, "what's so funny?"

"William Weasley," Naruto and Kiba laughed quietly.

"What about it?"

"It just sounds funny," Kiba replied while Naruto hid his smirk behind his hands and began to shake from containing his laughter. The trio quickly stifled their murmured conversation when Professor Snape's cold eyes locked onto them; causing Naruto, Kiba and Bill to shuffle guiltily in their seats while the rest of the class glanced in their direction curiously.

Professor Snape finally called out the two last names on the register - to which a blonde haired girl in Slytherin robes and another girl with copper hair wearing Gryffindor robes answered - before he rose from his chair and walked toward the class.

"Today we will start with a simple potion. You will all now retrieve you copies of Magical Drafts and Potions and turn to page number one hundred and thirty two," Professor Snape instructed and waited until the class had obliged.

As soon as the class had settled again, Professor Snape moved around the classroom and split the class into pairs to work on the potion together - despite this, the split between the Gryffindor and Slytherin students was still obvious, even Professor Snape seemed somewhat reluctant to mingle the two house groups. Finally, the black robes Potions Master halted in front of Naruto, Kiba and Bill's table; staring down his hooked nose at the three boys.   
"Uzumaki, move," Professor Snape commanded; pointing towards a table with one lone student sitting at it.

Without needing to be told twice, Naruto gathered his belongings - muttering his temporary farewells to Kiba and Bill - and shuffling towards his newly allocated seat.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Professor Snape scowled impatiently at the whole class. "Start brewing."

Naruto watched as the class began to move in unison; along with the ebony haired boy next to him. He then glanced down at his open copy of Magical Drafts and Potions.

"Cure for Boils?" The blond wrinkled his nose and began to read through the brewing instructions. "One; add six snake fangs to the mortar and crush into a fine powder using the pestle -"

"You can do that," the Slytherin said; giving Naruto both the pestle and the mortar.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked at his peer; taking the two objects.

"The snake fangs - you crush them," the ebony haired boy instructed dismissively as he began to light a fire beneath the cauldron.

"Fine," Naruto agreed in an irked tone; he added the snake fangs into the mortar and followed the instructions.

Naruto worked as closely as possible with his partner, but soon found that he had become extremely irritable and impatient with the Slytherin's lack of conversation and curt tones; it was obvious to Naruto that the raven haired boy wanted to work alone and he - if given the choice - would rather return to Kiba and Bill or work on his own potion too, but both boys had to grin and bear each other's company. Through small talk - due to the other's reluctance to speak more than several syllables at a time - Naruto had learnt that the Slytherin's name was Sasuke Uchiha.

After shooting a glare at the uninterested Slytherin, Naruto peered down at his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions so that he could prepare the next step of the potion.

"You're supposed to wait forty five minutes," Sasuke warned the blond as he watched Naruto count out four Horned Slugs and two Porcupine Quills, "we still have to wait another five minutes.”

"I know that," Naruto snapped, "It can't hurt to be read the instructions and be prepared though.”

"Hn," Sasuke snorted; returning his attention to the notes he was making.

While he waited, Naruto read and reread the method for the potion until he was able to repeat the whole step by step process under his breath without looking at the book while Sasuke continued to write on his scrap piece of parchment. The blond gazed towards Kiba and Bill to see the brunette resting his head on the table and glaring at his watch - that he had propped up against his school bag - while Bill drummed his fingertips on the table with one hand and doodled on some parchment with the other.

Professor Snape glided between each table; Naruto noticed that the Potions Master made the odd remark about the potions made by the Gryffindors, but seemed to give comments of approval to the Slytherins - but the blond shook his head and convinced himself that he had simply imagined it.

"It's time," Sasuke muttered - more to himself than to Naruto - as he checked the time on his watch - the Slytherin then picked up the Horned Slugs that the blond had prepared earlier and dropped them into the cauldron one by one.

Naruto then added the two Porcupine Quills and added them to the potion; which then began to hiss and fizz, spilling the potion over the surface and off of the edge of the desk. Naruto and Sasuke leaped to their feet to avoid contact with the corrosive potion.

"What the -?" Naruto stared at the potion in confusion.

"You moron!" Sasuke shot at the blond. "What did you do?"

"I did exactly what the instructions said!" Naruto flustered; grabbing his Magical Drafts and Potions to examine the page - he felt his heart sink as his eyes fell upon the eighth step of the potion.

Within seconds, Professor Snape was standing before them; sneering down at the potion before he turned his cold eyes onto Naruto.

"You were supposed to take the potion off of the heat before you added the Porcupine Quills, Uzumaki," Professor Snape informed the Gryffindor snidely, "congratulations, you now have no potion to hand in at the end of the lesson - five points from Gryffindor for failure to follow simple instructions," Professor Snape turned away from Naruto and Sasuke's desk without a single word to the ebony haired boy, "I suggest you clean up your mess before you cause any more damage to my classroom."

Naruto eyed his melting cauldron with a disheartened expression while Sasuke heaved an annoyed sigh and left Naruto's side to retrieve some cloths. When the Slytherin returned, Sasuke thrust one of the cloths he was holding into Naruto's hands and retrieved a pair of Dragon Hide gloves from his bag - Naruto followed the raven haired boy's lead - and the pair set to work and mopped away the ruined potion without a single word to each other.

* * *

 

At the end of the lesson, Naruto begrudgingly packed away his belongings - after spending the rest of the double period writing an essay about the Cure for Boils potion with Sasuke - and turned his back on the Slytherin to rejoin Kiba and Bill as they finished copying down their notes for the homework that Professor Snape had set for them.

"At least you have a head start on the homework now," Bill joked; playfully nudging the irritable blond as they left the classroom.

"You're not funny, y'know." Naruto scowled; shooting a glare at his friend.

"Oh, lighten up," Kiba snorted as he rolled his eyes, "so you messed up your first potion - everyone makes mistakes every now and again."

"But he only punished me for it," Naruto huffed, "what about Sasuke? Why didn't Snape take points from Sasu-"

"Because it wasn't me who screwed up," a new voice interrupted Naruto's rant as the Slytherin in question crossed the threshold into the corridor behind Naruto, Kiba and Bill, "it's not my fault that you're an idiot."

"What did you say?" Naruto gritted his teeth angrily.

"What?" Sasuke sneered. "Are you hard of hearing as well as an idiot?"

"Strike two, Uchiha!" Naruto growled; balling his hands into fists. "Once more and I'll wipe the floor with you!"

"Like you'd be able to lay so much as a scratch on me," Sasuke countered calmly; taking a step closer to the blond.

"Why are you still loitering outside my classroom?" Professor Snape stepped out of the potions classroom and he towered over the two boys. "I do hope that you're not threatening to start a fight in the school corridors."

Naruto and Sasuke stepped away from each other; it was in this moment that Naruto had realised that Kiba and Bill had detached themselves from him and were now waiting for him further down the corridor.

"I was just going to my next class," Sasuke said stiffly as he stepped around the blond and continued down the corridor.

Naruto quickly followed; feeling horribly aware of Professor's Snape's gaze that followed him down the corridor until the blond was out if sight.

"Bastard," Naruto whispered as he strode past the Slytherin to reach his friend.

"Moron," Sasuke retorted; before he turned down another passage.

"Thanks for sticking by my side guys," Naruto said sarcastically as he finally rejoined Kiba and Bill.

"You seemed to be handling things fine on your own," Kiba chuckled as he pulled Akamaru out of his school bag and set the dog down on the floor to let the puppy stretch his legs.

"Did you have him in your bag this whole time?" Bill asked; giving Kiba an incredulous stare.

"Of course I did," Kiba grinned, "he doesn't like being on his own - I thought Professor Snape saw him earlier when he got out of my bag, but we got lucky this time."

"He got out of your bag?"

"Yeah - he nearly got away too, that's why I ducked under the table."

"I didn't even notice." Bill confessed sheepishly.

* * *

 

Naruto had better luck in his Charms class than he had had in potions. Professor Flitwick - a very short man who reminded Naruto of the Gringotts goblins, but with more human features - was friendlier than Professor Snape. He smiled warmly as the Gryffindors filed into his classroom and encouraged the students to sit at the desks at the front of the class; so they could still hear him.

"Where are the Slytherins?" Naruto muttered to Kiba as the descended into their seats and pulled out their books, quills and ink.

"I don't think we share this class with them," Kiba replied; pulling out his time table to examine it while Naruto and Bill leaned over either shoulder to have a look too, "nope, this class is just for us Gryffindors."

The class settled down into a hushed silence as Professor Flitwick called out the register and ticked off the students who were in attendance.

"Today we are going to start with the Levitation Charm," Professor Flitwick announced happily as he turned to write on one of his blackboards, "the incantation for this spell is Wingardium Leviosa and - as the name suggests - the nature of this spell is to make objects levitate or fly. There are a few variations of this spell; the Floating Charm, Rocket Charm and the Hover Charm are to name a few, but you'll never get as good a result as you will with the Levitation Charm - you can find the Levitation Charm on page fifty one in your copies of The Standard Book of Spells: Grade One."

The classroom filled with the sound of quills scratching against parchments; along with the odd clink as someone dipped their quill into their ink pots. Naruto found himself quite thankful that Professor Flitwick was writing this information down on the chalkboard as he was already struggling to keep up with the fast speaking man.

"The Levitation Charm was first invented in the sixteenth century by a warlock called Jarleth Hobart. You can almost lift anything with this spell, but this fact is dependable on the skill of the castor and the weight of the object being levitated - for example, you cannot levitate people with this spell," Professor Flitwick added; flashing a small smile at Kiba after seeing the boy's devilish grin. Professor Flitwick clapped his small hands together with excitement. "Shall we give it a try then?"

The charms master withdrew his wand from the sleeve of his robes and cleared his throat. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He flicked his wand at Anthony Pettiford's book and guided it around the room with the movements of his wand before gently lowering the book back onto Anthony's desk.

The Gryffindors clapped as Professor Flitwick took a playful bow.

Naruto stared at Anthony's book; he was reminded of his first meeting with Iruka Umino back in the orphanage - when Iruka had convinced Naruto that he was a wizard too by creating a flying paper swan.

"Now, I have a rather nice collection of feathers for you all to practise on," Professor Flitwick's voice stirred Naruto from his memories, "so please - to avoid any incidents - could you all please put your belongings away and tuck your bags under your desks."

Professor Flitwick waited until the class obliged before he gave the feathers to Paige Smitt to hand out to her peers.

"Now remember, the hand movement is swish and flick!" Professor Flitwick instructed; showing the students the motion with his own wand. "And don't forget to pronounce the spell clearly; Wing-GAR-dee-um Levi-O-sa."

Within seconds the class was filled with untimely variations of Wingardium Leviosa; after some time the voices became more and more frustrated or very bored.

"Did you see that?" Kiba bounced ecstatically. "It moved!"

"Only because you knocked the table," Bill pointed out; he was now slumped over the table, glaring at his feather as though this would make it spring into the air.

"I did not," Kiba argued.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto joined. "Do it again then."

"Fine," Kiba cleared his throat and flicked his wand at the feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The feather remained motionless.

"Wow, Kiba - that flew up real high, y'know." Naruto commented sarcastically while Bill tried to hide his smug grin.

"Like you could do any better!" Kiba snapped defensively.

"Don't lose heart, boys," Professor Flitwick called over to the trio, "keep practising!"

By the end of the lesson, none of the Gryffindors had managed to levitate their feather and many of them had become rather disgruntled and disheartened.

"Not to worry," Professor Flitwick chimed happily, "we can always pick up on it next lesson - now for your homework!" The small man turned back to the board and began to write again.

Kiba let out a quiet groan as he folded his arms on the table and resting his chin on his interlocked arms, "more homework?"

"I want you all to write an essay about the history of the Levitation Charm and I would like you all to practice the Levitation Charms to show me during our next lesson," Professor Flitwick surveyed the students as he watched them begrudgingly make a note of their homework before he dismissed the class for lunch.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I barely remember writing any of this… 
> 
> Thank you again to those who read, subscribed, left kudos or bookmarked this fic
> 
> I would’ve uploaded more yesterday, but I decided to finish “It Takes Two” instead because 3 months for a 2000 odd word one shot was getting a bit ridiculous
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!   
> ~Fox

As soon as the boys had finished their lunch; Naruto, Kiba and Bill returned to their dormitory - this time Naruto and Bill made sure that their brunette friend left Akamaru in the dormitory this time - to grab their bags before heading to their next lesson; Defence Against the Dark Arts. When they arrived at their allocated classroom on the third floor, they found most of their peers already waiting inside the classroom; Tobio and Anthony were sitting at a desk discussing their favourite Quidditch teams - which quickly turned into an argument between the Holyhead Harpies and the Kenmare Kestrels - while Michelle, Haley and Natsumi chatted happily amongst themselves about anything that came to their minds. Leaving Kiyomi and Paige to eagerly practise the Levitation Charm from their previous lesson.

Naruto, Kiba and Bill settled themselves down at two desks; Bill and Naruto sat at one while Kiba settled down at the next desk and turned his chair so that he could talk to his friends.

"Where's Professor Orochimaru?" Bill questioned with a frown; retrieving his belongings from his school bag.

"He's probably still eating lunch," Kiba shrugged with disinterest, "we still have about five minutes before lunch finishes anyway - wanna play?" The brunette added as he waved a large stack of chocolate frog cards at Bill and Naruto.

He dealt the cards equally between the three of them and a game of Exploding Snap began; quickly drawing the attention of Paige and Kiyomi, who drew their chairs up to Naruto, Kiba and Bill's table to watch the game - they joined in later after the boys' first game came to an end.

"Well this looks fun," an oddly soft voice issued from the classroom doorway; making the students jump and stare around at the figure of Professor Orochimaru, "but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to put your cards away and settle down."

"Don't tell me that he's another Professor Snape," Naruto mumbled as he, Bill, Paige and Kiyomi returned Kiba's cards and moved into pairs at each table.

"Good afternoon,” Professor Orochimaru gave the class an eerily pleasant smile, "welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts - I thought we could start the year with a bit of work on some dark creatures before we tried some defensive spells. If you would all like to turn to page thirty seven in your copies of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, you should find the page titled Gnomes."

"Gnomes?" Anthony grumbled to himself. "I wouldn't really consider them to be a dark creature."

"Maybe not, but they are an annoyance," Professor Orochimaru simpered; he than began to read aloud from the book, "gnomes - or Gernumbli Gardensi - live in underground burrows; otherwise known as gnomeholes. They like to dig up plant roots and worms.

* * *

 

The bell finally rang throughout the school to announce the end of the third period; waking most of Professor Orochimaru's class from their daydreaming in time to jot down the last few notes before the teacher glanced up from his book.

"What timing!" Professor Orochimaru grinned. "We've finished our criteria on gnomes."

Naruto felt the class give a collective sigh of relief.

"Now, for our next lesson, I want you all to study the theory behind the Curse of Bogies," Professor Orochimaru continued, "we'll have a practical lesson next time."

The Gryffindors packed away their books and slumped their bags over their shoulders; leaving the classroom to depart to their final lesson of the day with tired yawns and grumbles.

"Why do we have so much homework already?" Kiba moaned as he, Naruto and Bill walked at a slow pace down the corridor. "It's only our first day! And gnomes for Defence Against the Dark Arts? Is he mad? I know that they're pests, but Anthony's right, I wouldn't say that gnomes are particularly dangerous."

Kiba continued his rant as they followed the other Gryffindor first years and descended the Grand Staircase to the first floor; until they reached their History of Magic classroom. As they had done in their previous lessons; Naruto, Kiba and Bill huddled around a desk together and retrieved their belongings from their bags for the last time that day.

"Just one more hour and we're free for the rest of the afternoon," Naruto yawned and stretched in his seat.

"Um, Naruto?" Bill leaned towards the blond with a concerned expression. "Are you going to be alright in this class?"

"History?" Naruto blinked at the redhead. "Of course."

Kiba swallowed guiltily as his eyes fell upon the translucent ghost of Professor Binns. "Naruto -"

Professor Binns cleared his throat and began to read the names on his register in a bored, monotone voice.

"Tobio Fujiwara."

"Sir."

"Michelle Harris."

"Present."

"Kiba Inuzuka."

"Yes," Naruto's brunette friend raised his hand before throwing another cautious glance at the blond.

"Haley McCormick."

"Present, sir."

"Anthony Pettiford."

"Yes sir."

"Paige Smitt."

"Here, sir."

"Naruto Uzumaki," Professor Binns waited for an answer to the call; but none came, "Naruto Uzumaki?" The ghost called again; glancing up at the classroom.

The Gryffindors slowly; one by one, stared around at the blond - who was sat in his chair staring at Professor Binns in horrified silence.

"Uh… here," Kiba answered the call for Naruto; tearing his gaze away from his friend and raising his hand again on behalf of the blond.

"William Weasley," Professor Binns continued the register as though he hasn't notice that Kiba had answered twice.

"Sir," Bill replied as he and Kiba tried to gain a reaction from their friend and Professor Binns began to conduct his lesson; slowly regaining the students' attention.

"Naruto?" Kiba nudged the blond while throwing a cautious glance towards Professor Binns.

Naruto slowly turned his head towards the brunette, "why is our teacher a ghost?" The blond asked in a faint voice. "I hate ghosts, y'know."

"It's okay," Bill tried to soothe the blond, "ghosts are actually quite nice, they won't do anything to hurt you."

"Professor Binns is dead," Naruto chuckled quietly - more to himself than to Bill and Kiba, "but he's teaching our class."

“I guess that’s one way to put things into perspective,” Kiba chewed on his lip with worry and raised his voice for Professor Binns to hear, "excuse me, Professor?"

Professor Binns ignored Kiba's voice and continued to read from the book he was holding in the same droning tone, "- during the wildcat Gargoyle Strike of 1911, the wildcats were winning when -"

"Professor!" Kiba called more urgently; but still found that he was unable to arouse the ghost's attention. Kiba rolled his eyes irritably and muttered, "I'm getting him out of here," to Bill as he pulled Naruto out of seat, collected their school bags and dragged the blond out of the classroom without Professor Binns so much as looking up or taking a pause from his notes.

"Hey Naruto, are you okay?" Kiba asked the blond again as soon they were out of eyeshot of Professor Binns.

"Couldn't be any better, thanks," the blond mumbled; despite the fact that he was still very pale.

"Damn, I didn't think that you were this scared of ghosts," the brunette murmured more to himself; pulling Naruto further away from the classroom, "what I said earlier isn't true, you know that right? Bill's right, ghosts can't hurt you and they're honestly not as scary as I made them out to be earlier," Kiba explained guiltily, "they don't scream at night and they don't come into our dormitory - I only said that stuff as a joke," Kiba frowned at Naruto apologetically, "I'm sorry, Naruto - I got carried away and if I had known that this was how you were going to react, I wouldn't have said anything."

The pair walked into Hana and a brunette girl wearing a Hufflepuff uniform on the Grand Staircase.

"Whoa!" Hana grabbed Kiba's arm and spun him around. "Why aren't you in class?"

"Naruto's not feeling so great," Kiba explained briefly; jerking his thumb at the pale-faced blond behind him, "and I could ask you the same question before you go biting my head off."

"Free period," Hana replied dismissively as she surveyed Naruto, "he looks like he's just seen a ghost. What happened to him?"

"Funny you should say that," Kiba shuffled his feet uneasily, "it turns out that Naruto isn't overly keen on ghosts."

Hana blinked at her little brother; looking somewhat taken aback, "a fear of ghosts probably isn't ideal when you're in a school full of them."

"You're telling me," Kiba ruffled his hair and laughed guiltily, "I don't think he took to Professor Binns very well."

"Poor guy," the Hufflepuff girl gave Naruto a sympathising look, "you should take him to the Hospital Wing; maybe Madam Pomfrey can help?"

"Good idea, Ayame," Hana nodded at her friend.

"I was going to take him back to our dormitory until he calmed down a bit," Kiba told the girls with a small shrug, "then maybe we should talk to Professor McGonagall or something."

Hana frowned as she contemplated the advantages and disadvantages of both options, "do you know if there's a certain reason behind his fear of ghosts?"

"He never mentioned it until this morning," Kiba informed the older Inuzuka.

"Did something happen to make him talk about it this morning?" Ayame asked; giving Kiba an encouraging smile and a nod.

"He… er…" Kiba cast his mind back to that morning when Naruto had stopped on the staircase when they were heading down to breakfast, "he looked kinda shaken and said that he saw a ghost this morning and then me and my friend; Bill, asked him if he was scared of ghosts - he said that he wasn't but we could tell that he was lying, so I - I -" Kiba let his sentence fall into incoherent mumbling.

"What did you do?" Hana shot at Kiba; narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"I kinda said some stuff," Kiba muttered; staring at his feet.

Hana gave an exasperated sigh,  
"follow me - we'll go back to the Common Room this way," Hana pivoted on the spot; cursing her younger brother under her breath and led the way through a tapestry that concealed a passage.

"Why are we going this way?" Kiba asked; following Hana's lead while tugging on Naruto's robes with Ayame following behind him.

"I heard Peeves up on the fifth floor earlier," Hana explained, "I don't think it's wise to let blondie near a poltergeist."

"Besides, you two are first years, do you know how much trouble you'll be in for sneaking out of class?" Ayame pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Kiba grimaced; a week of detentions was not what he had wished for on his first day of school, "he's going to be alright, isn't he?"

"Well he's not going to forget about it overnight," Hana replied angrily, "but he should be fine - you probably made it much worse for him! Make sure you apologise to him and never do something so stupid again!" Hana added as she paused to jab a finger into Kiba's chest reproachfully.

"I will!" Kiba replied quickly; throwing his hands up in surrender.

* * *

 

Naruto's first week at Hogwarts passed in a bit of a blur; he had already decided that his least favourite class was History of Magic - not because Professor Binns was a ghost (not that he felt particularly comfortable with the idea, but he was slowly becoming more accustomed to the translucent figure) but because Professor Binns bored his students to death. Every lesson was the same routine, the translucent man would take the register before he stood in front of his class and read from his notes in a droning voice. Naruto, Kiba and Bill decided that their History of Magic classes were best use as lesson to catch up on sleep, complete any homework that they had failed to do or play games of hangman on a scrap piece of parchment while they pretended to take notes.

Over the course of the week, Naruto had also made a mental list of teachers who he didn't wish to cross on a bad day - which included his Transfiguration teacher and Head of House; Professor McGonagall, the Potions Master; Professor Snape and another teacher who had silver hair - despite his seemingly young age - and wore a bandana to conceal the majority of his face; including his right eye.

The young teacher didn't teach any classes with Naruto, so the blond had never officially met the man; but the silver haired teacher had a knack of appearing when misconduct or general tomfoolery occurred and would often give harsh punishments to the culprits. Even so, Naruto would pass the man in the school's corridors and feel as though he were being watched closely; but every time Naruto glanced in the teacher's direction, the silver haired man was engrossed in a small orange book.

The blond had to admit to himself, as much as he would rather avoid the silver haired man, he was curious to know what the man taught and why he always hid his face - he had even asked Shikamaru; who merely shrugged in response.

"What do you think he's reading?" Naruto asked as he spotted the man in question sitting in a chair in the corner of the library. "Maybe we can work out what he teaches."

Shikamaru heaved a weary sigh and squinted at the book in the mysterious professor's hand, "I think it says… Make Out Paradise?"

"Never mind," Naruto cringed slightly; picturing the Pervy Sage; Jiraiya, laughing triumphantly in his mind.

"Why don't you just go and ask him?" Kiba suggested.

"Because he creeps me out, y'know," Naruto eyed the silver haired man.

"Then quit worrying about it and get on with your homework," Shikamaru said; hitting Naruto on the back of the head with his copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Alright, alright, I'm doing it," Naruto turned back to the piece of parchment in front of him with a furrowed brow as he thoughtfully fiddled with his quill, "um… Shikamaru?"

"Hm," Shikamaru hummed to tell the blond that he was listening.

"Who was Emeric the Oddball and when was he alive?"

"Emeric the odd-" the Ravenclaw frowned at Naruto, "you mean Emeric the Evil."

"Yeah him!"

"Why don't you just look at your class notes?"

Naruto laughed guiltily as he held up a piece of parchment that was covered in doodles, profanities and games of naughts and crosses.

"Well, what about Kiba's notes?" Shikamaru asked impatiently.

"Uh…" Kiba shuffled awkwardly as he held up another piece of parchment that was in a similar state to Naruto's.

"Seriously?" Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at the pair. "How on earth are you two planning to pass your exams at the end of the year is you're not paying attention in class?"

"Bluff it," Kiba grinned proudly.

"There's exams?" Naruto cocked his head at the Ravenclaw.

"I'm starting to think that you two are too troublesome for my liking," Shikamaru groaned, "alright fine, listen closely because I'm only saying this once," Shikamaru warned the pair; watching the two Gryffindor's poise their quills, "Emeric was a powerful wizard from the early Middle Ages -"

* * *

 

Shikamaru waited in the library with Naruto and Kiba until they had finished their History of Magic homework; giving the two Gryffindor's helpful advice and facts as they worked.

"There you are!" A girl with blonde hair approached the trio.

"Hey Ino," Shikamaru inclined his head at the girl; turning in his seat so that he could talk to her face to face.

The girl wore Slytherin robes and had her school bag slung over one of her shoulders. She had one hand on her hip and in the other she held an envelope, "I was talking to Professor Sprout in Herbology and when I came out your owl gave me this; he must've recognised me," Ino held up the envelope for Shikamaru to see, "it looks like your dad's handwriting."

"Thanks," Shikamaru smiled as he stood up to take the letter; he tucked it away in the pocket of his robes, "I'll read it later. Have you seen Chōji today?"

"Not since lunch - he was stuffing his face as usual," Ino sighed as she rolled her eyes, "he said something about the older students making fun of him - he needs to stand up for himself; if I was him, I would've shown those bullies what's what." Ino scowled as she clenched her fists. "If I catch anyone bullying Chōji -"

"Just don't get yourself in trouble," Shikamaru sighed, "it's not worth it."

Ino shook her head and relax her hands, "hm," she gave a dismissive hum, "I better take your owl back to the Owlery - I might as well, I have to go to the Quidditch pitch for a flying lesson anyway. I'll see you later, Shikamaru," Ino flashed a small smile at the Ravenclaw as she turned and joined her pink haired friend; who was waiting outside the library with a large tawny owl perched on her shoulder.

"Women are scary," Shikamaru muttered to himself as he rejoined Naruto and Kiba; who were staring at their friend suggestively, "what's wrong with you two?"

"Are you and Ino… an item?" Kiba enquired with an air of innocence.

"What?" Shikamaru threw the Gryffindor an incredulous stare.

"You seem very friendly, y'know," Naruto added; with the same interested expression that adorned Kiba's features.

"As if!" Shikamaru scoffed. "I told you when we met, I grew up with her and Chōji - of course we're close, we were childhood friends."

"Who was the other girl?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Other girl?" Shikamaru raised a questioning eyebrow at Naruto.  
"Ino's friend with the pink hair," the blond elaborated, "I think she was wearing Ravenclaw robes too."

"You mean Sakura Haruno?" Shikamaru gave his friend a puzzled frown. "What's she got to do with anything?"

"Is she another childhood friend?" Kiba teased the Ravenclaw with a smirk.

Shikamaru gave the pair a sceptical glare, "don't you two have a flying lesson to get to?"

"That it, you just change the subject," Kiba jested as he and Naruto gathered their belongings and rose to their feet, "it's alright, Shikamaru - we won't tell anyone about you and Ino."

"What?" Shikamaru's confused expression grew deeper. "There isn't anything to tell anyone, she's a childhood friend," the Ravenclaw emphasised on the phrase childhood friend, but his words fell on deaf ears as Kiba and Naruto were already racing out of the library - calling their farewells to Shikamaru and earning themselves a rather murderous glare from Madam Pince the librarian.

The two Gryffindors headed to their dormitory at a brisk pace; dropping their bags off and rushing out of the Common Room again while receiving bewildered stares and glances from the older students. Naruto and Kiba tore through the school's corridors as fast as they could; taking shortcuts that were concealed behind portraits and tapestries to save some time - of which were shown to the boys by Hana and Ayame over the course of the week.

The pair finally skidded to a halt beside Bill; clutching at the stitches in their sides and gasping for breath.

"H-heh, still have th-three minutes spare," Kiba mused to himself as he surveyed his watch.

"H-how did she get here before us?" Naruto panted; spotting the Slytherin girl who had spoken to Shikamaru mere moments ago.

"Now that is the enthusiasm I like to see in my class!" Professor Maito applauded Naruto and Kiba. "A perfect example of the springtime of youth!"

Gai Maito was a rather eccentric man who - in Naruto's eyes - seemed to believe that he was still in his teenage years. He had ebony hair that was cut in a bowl-style and he wore a green spandex suit for 'flexibility'. Whenever Naruto saw or heard this man, he was forcibly reminded of a second year student; Rock Lee, everything about Gai and Lee was the same - they even had the same hot-blooded enthusiasm. The blond had often wondered if they two we're related or if Gai had managed to clone himself; but had never brought it upon himself to ask them.

"Weirdo," Kiba muttered under his breath as he massaged his side; making Naruto and Bill smirked.

"Now everyone, stand beside a broomstick!" Gai instructed as he pointed towards a line of twenty broomsticks.

The students obliged obediently and Naruto found himself standing between Bill and Sasuke Uchiha. The Slytherin and the Gryffindor shared a scowl before their attention was drawn back towards their flying instructor.

"Now, hold you right hand over your broom - like so," Gai commanded in a confident voice; standing beside his own broomstick in view of his students and demonstrating, "and say, up!"

The students watched with unimpressed expressions as Gai's broomstick rolled around on the floor.

"Up!" Gai tried again; the broomstick rolled once more. "Up! Up! Up!" Gai continued to try again and again but the broomstick continues to stubbornly jolt around the ground. "The important thing is that you don't give up!" Gai grinned at the class; but on his last word the broomstick jerked off of the ground and hit Gai on the side of his face.

The class tried to disguise their giggles and snorts but were unsuccessful; fortunately, Gai thought that their smiles were of encouragement and admiration so he praised the students for their support.

"Now it's your turn!" Gai announced as he rubbed the red mark on his face.

Naruto watched as his peers placed their hand above their broomsticks and began to chant, "up!" Some were successful on their first or second attempts, whereas others seemed to struggle - and grew cautious, in fear of a similar incident to Gai's.

"Up," the Slytherin beside Naruto commanded in a cool voice - the broomstick obliged immediately and Sasuke flashed a smug smirk in Naruto's direction, "you're not going to mess this up as well, are you?"

"Like its that hard!" Naruto grumbled at the raven haired boy.

"Say that after you've done it," Sasuke sneered.

"Hmph!" The blond thrust his right hand over the broomstick. "Up!" He ordered in a confident voice.

Naruto watched in disappointment as the broom rose an inch off of the floor and fell again.

"Hn," the raven haired Slytherin snickered, "nice try, loser - let's hope that your flying ability is better than your potion making skills."

Naruto growled furiously. "Up!" The broom spring into his hand and the blond flashed Sasuke a wicked grin.

"Now that you all have your brooms, mount them like this," Gai showed the Gryffindors and the Slytherins how to grip the handle of the broomstick properly and then demonstrated how to kick off from the ground, "now follow my lead everyone!"

As soon as everyone was in the air, Gai started his introduction to flying by showing the students the basics of turning, moving forwards and landing again.

"I'm surprised you didn't screw up the basics," Sasuke shot at Naruto in a taunting tone.

"Why? Do you think you're better than me?" Naruto spat back.

"Think?" The Slytherin asked with an amused expression. "I know I'm better than you - I've been flying since I was six years old."

"Really?" Naruto mocked a curious expression. "You haven't been flying for that long then, have you? That's probably why your flying isn't so great, y'know."

"What did you say?" The ebony haired boy narrowed his eyes into a glare.

"Oi! Are you two coming down or what?" Kiba's voice drifted up to the pair; but they ignored him.

"I bet I could fly better than you any day," Naruto challenged Sasuke; removing his hands from the handle of the broomstick to fold them across his chest with a smug grin - despite the fact that he didn't feel comfortable without the support of his arms.

"Hn," Sasuke glowered at the blond Gryffindor, "seeing as you're feeling cocky, how about first one around the pitch wins?"

"Sounds good to me," Naruto regained a comfortable grip his brooms stick and the pair shot off around the edge of the Quidditch pitch as fast as their brooms would will them to go.

"Look and learn, everyone!" Gai called out; drawing the class' attention towards Naruto and Sasuke. "They're embracing the springtime of youth to reach new limits! Bravo!"

"Is this guy serious?" Kiba gawked at Gai. "He's supposed to be the teacher!"

"Hey, that's Sasuke!" Ino pointed at the ebony haired boy excitedly.

"And Naruto," Bill groaned.

"Go Naruto!" Anthony shouted. "Kick that guy's butt!"

"No way, Sasuke's going to wipe the floor with your little friend," Rosalyn argued.

"He's more experienced and way cooler than any of you Gryffindors," Kaito joined in.

"Like hell he is!" Haley scowled. "Go Naruto!"

The class divided into cheers for Sasuke and Naruto while Gai - who seemed even more oblivious - continued to applaud the boys for their enthusiasm.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" Sasuke shouted over the howl of the wind in his ears.

"Yeah, I wouldn't of challenged you otherwise," Naruto leaned as far forwards on his broomstick as he could; he had now overtaken Sasuke by mere inches, "so you can stop acting so superior!"

The pair were fast approaching their invisible finishing line when Naruto's broomstick gave an unsteady jolt.

"What the -?" Naruto's broomstick buckled under the strain of their race and began to jerk uncontrollably; forcing the blond to reluctantly slow down - Sasuke easily overtook the Gryffindor and finished his lap of the Quidditch pitch.

The Slytherins cheered triumphantly as Sasuke descended to the ground. Naruto slowly followed the raven haired boy; feeling hesitant to push the broomstick more than he had already.

"Looks like I am the better flyer after all," Sasuke smiled contemptuously.

"I would've beaten you if it wasn't for this broom!" Naruto burst angrily.

"A broom is only as good as the wizard flying it."

"That's it!" Naruto fumed. "I've had enough of you!"

"Likewise!"

The pair withdrew their wands and pointed them in each other's faces.

"Expelliarmus!" Sasuke called.

"Uh… abracadabra!" Naruto shouted the first thing that came to his mind.

The Gryffindor and the Slytherin continued to glare at each other as a puff of smoke issued from the end of both wands.

"Now really," Gai stepped in between the two boys, "a rivalry is healthy, but this is going a little too far, don't you think?"

The two boys slowly lowered their wands; but kept constant eye contact with each other as Gai relaxed his position.

"Good - now time to pack away!" Gai called to the other students as he moved away from Sasuke and Naruto.

"Loser," Sasuke murmured.

"That's it!" Naruto growled; casting his wand aside as Sasuke did the same. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you!”

The pair collided in a barrage of punches and kicks as they screamed insults and threats at each other.

"Naruto, stop it!" Kiba yelled as he, Bill and Paige grabbed the blond where they could and dragged him away from Sasuke while Kaito, Samantha and Ino tugged the ebony haired Slytherin away.

"I told you two to stop!" Gai lectured the boys surveyed Sasuke's bleeding, swollen lip and Naruto puffy eye. "Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin - I'll be telling your heads of houses about this." Gai added; shaking his head disapprovingly.


	9. Chapter Nine

Naruto had been summoned to Professor McGonagall's office later that evening; he walked down the stone corridors by the flame lit torches, feeling his heart sink lower and a lump rise in his throat with every step he took. He finally stopped in front of her wooden door, took a deep breath and knocked; he was accustomed to getting into trouble and being told off was almost a daily routine for him, but this woman scared him more than Mrs Birkenhead.

Professor McGonagall opened the wooden door and surveyed the blond sternly over the top of her spectacles as she beckoned him into her office. She waited until he had say down in the chair that she had placed in front of her desk before she regained her own seat and examined him closely; making him feel uncomfortable and shuffle in his seat guiltily as he adverted his gaze.

"I have not had many first years sitting in that chair during their second week of term," Professor McGonagall stated; Naruto could hear the disappointment in her voice, "in fact, I would be very surprised if I could name more than four."

"I -" Naruto opened his mouth to speak but quickly closed it again; unsure of what he should say.

"We have no tolerance for violence here at Hogwarts and I should hope that no student from my house would point his wand so readily at his fellow peers," Professor McGonagall lectured the blond in a sharp tone; but her expression soon softened as she watched the boy in front of her cast his eyes down to his knees, "however, I have been told by Professor Gai that you were provoked."

Naruto glanced up at the strict witch.

"I will let you off with a warning, but might I suggest that you learn to control your temper next time?"

"Yes, Professor," Naruto bowed his head.

"This does not mean that you are to go without punishment," Professor McGonagall added, "you are to serve detention with Mr Uchiha and myself every night for the next week."

"Yes, Professor," Naruto nodded again; finding that starting an argument with the intimidating woman would be pointless.

"Good," Professor McGonagall opened a tartan tin an offered it to Naruto; who glanced between Professor McGonagall and the tin apprehensively, "take a biscuit."

"I - sorry?" Naruto cocked his head at the woman in confusion.

"Take a biscuit," the woman repeated; shaking the tin slightly.

Naruto did as he was told with a slightly bemused expression; he surveyed the ginger newt in his hand curiously.

"Is there anything else you would like to discuss, Mr Uzumaki?"

"N-no," Naruto's confusion grew.

"Well then, I believe we are finished,” Professor McGonagall stated; writing on a small piece of parchment and then handing it to Naruto, "this is your detention slip - I will see you tomorrow night at six o'clock sharp. Understood?"

"Um… yes, Professor."

"Off you go," Professor McGonagall waved the blond away; he obliged - leaving Professor McGonagall's office as fast as he could; feeling unsure whether he had been told off or not.

* * *

 

Naruto and Sasuke leaned against the wall on either side of Professor McGonagall's office door the following evening. Neither of the boys spoke so much as a word to each other - nor did they look at each other - while they waited for their detention with Professor McGonagall to begin.

At six o'clock, Professor McGonagall returned to her office to find Naruto and Sasuke standing in a sulky silence.

"Good evening gentlemen," she greeted the pair and received two nods in response, "have you both lost your voices?" She snapped at the boys.

"Good evening, Professor," the boys chimed in unison.

"Better," Professor McGonagall smiled to herself, "follow me please," she instructed as she set off down the corridor at a brisk pace.

The young Gryffindor and Slytherin share a curious glance; before quickly looking away from each other - remembering that they were supposed to be ignoring each other.

Professor McGonagall led the two students out into the school grounds where they stopped and waited.

"Professor Hatake has offered to supervise your detention," Professor McGonagall explained to the boys as they waited, "he will be overseeing your evenings for the following week."

"Professor Hatake?" Naruto asked; tilting his head to one side.

"That's right," Professor McGonagall nodded, "to my understanding, he has a few jobs lined up for you over the course of the week so that I can attend to other matters."

"A few jobs?"

"Ah, here he is," Professor McGonagall announced as the familiar white haired teacher with the bandana approached them, "I'll leave them in your hands."

"Thank you, Professor," the man inclined his head respectfully at Professor McGonagall - the witch left the two students with the white haired man and headed back up to the school.

"You're Professor Hatake?" Naruto eyes the man suspiciously.

"I prefer to be called Kakashi - Professor Hatake seems too formal for my liking, but that doesn't mean you can treat me differently from any of your other teachers," Kakashi told the pair, "you two must be Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, right?"

The boys nodded.

"Good, we're going to Hagrid's hut. Come on."

"Hagrid's hut?" Sasuke quirked an eyebrow as he followed Kakashi.

"Hagrid, you mean the big guy?" Naruto enquired; trailing along behind them.

"That's the one," Kakashi chuckled, "he's a good friend of mine, so I offered to use some magic to get rid of the weeds in his pumpkin patch, but then I overheard Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape talking about your detentions in the staff room - so I asked them if I could take on your detentions instead."

"Weeds?" Naruto and Sasuke questioned in unison.

"I hope that you two brought your dragon hide gloves," Kakashi chuckled to himself again.

The trio walked down the sloping lawns until they reached a small cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Naruto and Sasuke share a brief glance as Kakashi thudded his fist against the door three times.

"Jus' a minute!" Hagrid's booming voice issued from inside the cabin.

A scratching noise could be heard along with low barks. Hagrid's door opened to reveal a large, black boar hound jumping excitedly and the giant man who Naruto and Sasuke recognised for their first day at Hogwarts.

"'Lo Kakashi," Hagrid greeted the white haired man with a wide smile.

"Yo," Kakashi returned the smile from beneath his bandana as he raised a hand in greeting, "I brought some students from the school to help me - I hope you don't mind."

"Yeh two are eager, aren' yeh?" Hagrid chuckled.

"Actually, they're serving their detentions with me," Kakashi confessed as he glanced at the boys over his shoulder, "I believe it was for fighting in class."

The Gryffindor and the Slytherin scowled at the ground in response.

"Ah, tha's no good," Hagrid shook his head at the boys with a small frown, "well, tha pumpkin patch is this way," Hagrid led Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke through a gate into a fenced off garden; with the large dog bounding happily around them.

Naruto felt his jaw drop as his eyes fell upon rows and rows of huge pumpkins.

"Whoa! Look at the size of them!" The blond ran up to the closest pumpkin and compared it to his own height. "This one's nearly at my waist!"

"At least that one is easily amused," Kakashi murmured to himself as he, Sasuke and Hagrid watched Naruto run between each pumpkin; comparing their sizes.

"You must be a really good gardener!" Naruto beamed at Hagrid.

"I'm glad yeh like 'em," Hagrid laughed, "they should be big enough fer Halloween soon."

"Halloween?" Sasuke cocked his head at the giant. "They look ripe now, surely they won't keep until Halloween."

"It's possible," Hagrid twiddled with the pink umbrella in his hand nervously; causing Sasuke to eye it suspiciously.

"A bit of magic can slow their growth until Halloween," Kakashi explained, "then we'll use them for decorations, pasties, pumpkin juice, stuff like that," Kakashi gave a small shrug, "anyway, we're not here to talk. Hagrid, do you have some spare gloves that these two could use please?"

* * *

 

Naruto and Sasuke worked with Kakashi and Hagrid until long after the sun had set; almost all of the weeds had been removed from Hagrid's pumpkin patch - along with a few accidental pumpkins when Naruto had stopped paying attention; to which he and Sasuke hid the evidence of under a pile of dead leaves after a whispered argument.

Naruto swiped the sweat from his brow and sat on the floor to stare up at the starry sky; his arms were aching from the constant movement and his feet hurt where he had been standing and walking around the garden for the last few hours. He had long removed his gloves as they were far too big for him as just got in the way of his work; now his hands were filthy and there was a lot of dirt under his fingernails.

"I think that this is enough work for one day, don't you?" Kakashi announced as he closed his small copy of Make Out Paradise - he had spent more time with his nose buried in that book than he had spent helping Naruto, Sasuke and Hagrid.

Naruto shifted his gaze to Sasuke and was pleased to see that the Slytherin was lent against the fence and was just as exhausted as he was. They both heaved a sigh of relief at Kakashi's announcement.

"How abou' a nice cup o' tea?" Hagrid suggested. "Jus' a little thank yeh fer the hard work."

"I can't see why not - it should be fine so long as they're with me," Kakashi reasoned thoughtfully, "What do you two think?" Kakashi asked; looking towards Sasuke and Naruto.

"Sounds great to me," Naruto grinned excitably; all of the work that he had done had made him feel incredibly thirsty after all.

"Do I really have a choice?" Sasuke sighed. "I'll get in trouble for being out of my common room after hours if I leave on my own."

"Finally learning to play by the rules, are we?" Kakashi smirked. "Come on, you two," He beckoned the pair to follow him inside Hagrid's hut.

The boar hound - who had retired to the cabin at sun set - wagged his tail excitably as Hagrid and his guests entered the hut.

"Make yehselves at home," Hagrid beamed encouragingly.

Naruto and Sasuke peered around the cabin curiously as they settled themselves down at a large wooden table. The hut only had one room; there was a vast bed with a patchwork quilt on it in one corner. Sasuke grimaced slightly as he surveyed the hams and pheasants hanging from the ceiling. There was no sign of a stove nor much of a kitchenette which made Naruto wonder whether Hagrid came up to the castle for his meals. Kakashi offered to help Hagrid prepare the tea while the two boys continued to stare nervously about themselves.

"Here yeh are," Hagrid placed two large cups on the table in front of Naruto and Sasuke along with a plate of rock cakes as Kakashi brought the remaining two cups of tea to the table for Hagrid and himself, "help yehselves to some cakes."

"Thanks," Naruto took one of the rock cakes from the plate and bit into it while Sasuke's cautiously followed his lead.

Kakashi watched with an amused expression as the two boys quickly took the rock cakes out of their mouths - unable to bite through the cakes - and Naruto clasped a hand over his mouth in pain while Sasuke stare at his cake with a quizzical expression.

"Tasty, aren't they?" Kakashi asked; drawing Hagrid's attention to Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke had swiftly slipped his rock cake under the table and willingly let the black dog take the cake before Hagrid had looked around; while Naruto pretended to chew - after snapping his own rock cake in half and placed one of the halves in the pocket of his robes. Naruto nodded earnestly at Kakashi while he tried to maintain his innocent demeanour.

* * *

 

Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke waved goodbye to Hagrid as they headed back towards the school - Naruto discarded the rock cake that he had stuffed into his pocket earlier. The white haired man walked both boys back to their respective common rooms with instructions to meet him in the Entrance Hall at six o'clock the following evening.

Naruto entered the common room - glad to see that Kiba and Bill were still awake - and settle down on the hearth rug; letting Akamaru climb into his lap while Kiba finished his homework.

"You're finally back then," Kiba tutted irritably at Naruto, "I'm surprised that try let you walk through the corridors after hours."

"I had to walk back with a teacher," Naruto shrugged; scratching Akamaru behind the ear.

Kiba wrinkled his nose, “you smell like mud, what have you been doing?"

"Picking weeds out of Hagrid's pumpkin patch."

"That's not too bad," Bill commented without looking up from his work, "I thought that they would have you writing lines or something."

"That's what I thought," Naruto admitted with a short laugh, "Professor Hatake supervised us - if it had been Professor McGonagall, I'm sure that we would've been writing lines instead."

"Who the hell is Professor Hatake?" Kiba asked.

"That guy with the white hair who's always reading that book."

"I've heard about him," Bill frowned as he cast through his memory, "one of the older students told me that he conveniently offers to do jobs around the school when his students have detention."

"That's slave labour!" Kiba gawked at Bill.

"It still beats writing lines," Bill gave a small smile, "I bet the time flies by when you're working rather than continuously writing the same sentence over and over again."

"I think I'll take the lines thanks," Kiba snorted; he then turned to Naruto, "there's an owl waiting for you upstairs."

"An owl?" Naruto blinked at Kiba in confusion.

"You know; big thing with feathers, has wings and can fly, bird of pr-"

"I know what an owl is!" Naruto snapped. "I was just wondering who it was from."

"Beats me," Kiba shrugged.

Naruto gently placed Akamaru's curled up form on the hearth rug - trying not to wake the sleeping puppy - and ascended the stairs to the boys' dormitory where he found a barn owl sitting on his pillow; it gave a low hoot when he entered the room.

"Shh!" Naruto pressed a finger to his lips and gave an uncertain glance towards the two sleeping occupants in the dormitory. The blond heaved a sigh of relief when neither Tobio or Anthony woke up.  
Naruto silently crept across the room to his bed and untied the envelope fastened to the barn owl's leg. The owl gave another low hoot - making Naruto flinch and angrily hush the bird again - before the owl took flight out of the open window beside Naruto's bed; which the blond quickly closed after the owl had departed. Naruto tiptoed across them room again - closing the door behind himself as quietly as possible.

Naruto rejoined Bill and Kiba on the hearth rug.

"Stupid owl," Naruto grumbled to himself as he opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of parchment inside.

"Who's it from?" Bill asked; ignoring his homework to read the letter over Naruto's shoulder.

"It's from Iruka," Naruto smiled to himself, "he just wants to know how I'm doing. Have you got a quill I can borrow? I left mine in the dormitory."

* * *

 

Naruto and Sasuke's week of detentions with Kakashi flew by - they were given tasks such as cleaning the bedpans in the hospital wing, cleaning out the Owlery, tending to the greenhouses for Professor Sprout (which Naruto didn't mind as Herbology was one if his favourite classes) and reorganising the library books into alphabetical order and subject - Naruto began to wonder if there was some truth to behind Bill's words. Although the jobs were tiring - and Naruto quickly grew more and more annoyed if he caught Kakashi reading or if Sasuke caught him messing up his task in one way or another and made a snide comment - the detentions didn't seem to be as long as they actually were. Kakashi seemed to be quite a fair man; he would allow both boys to leave early if they had completed their tasks early and to a satisfactory standard - this made Naruto as Sasuke feel relieved that they were serving their detentions with the silver haired professor; especially as they were sure that they wouldn't get the same treatment from Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape.

With the first month of term finally over, the school began to buzz with excitement as talk about the start of the Inter-House Quidditch Tournament began to circulate around the school.

"I don't really understand why everyone is getting so worked up about it," Shikamaru sighed as he, Naruto and Kiba spotted a group of second years whispering excitedly as they passed through the courtyard, "it just a game."

"Just a -" Kiba stared incredulously at the Ravenclaw. "It's not just a game! Quidditch is a fundamental sport -"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes while Naruto sniggered behind Kiba's back as their friend launched into a long rant about Quidditch.

"Alright, I get the point," Shikamaru waved off Kiba's lecture, "I just don't understand why everyone is getting so worked up about it now - the first match isn't for another two weeks yet."

"Yeah, we got the Halloween feast first," Naruto pointed out.

"Do you think of anything other than food?" Kiba shook his head at Naruto. "I heard that Professor Dumbledore has hired a ghost orchestra for the entertainment."

"Please, no more ghosts." Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine.

"What's wrong with him?" Shikamaru muttered to Kiba.

"He doesn't like ghosts," Kiba heaved a sigh, "He's getting better with it though."

"Seriously?" Shikamaru cocked his head at Naruto. "You've nearly finished your first term of school. You must see ghosts on a daily basis, how are you still scared of them?"

"He had a bit of a run in with Peeves during one of his detentions," Kiba ruffled his hair guiltily, "he's okay around some ghosts, but he's still a bit skittish around others. I have to admit, it is quite funny to watch him hide from the Bloody Baron."

"Shut up, Kiba - there's nothing funny about it!" Naruto growled angrily. "Anyway, who's fault is that?"

"Sorry," Kiba mumbled; shifting his gaze to Akamaru; who was running around the courtyard happily.

Shikamaru pulled his robes tighter around himself as a gust of wind hit their backs, "it's freezing out here, can we go back inside?" He moaned as he checked a small watch on his wrist, "it's nearly lunch time - we might as well head down to the Great Hall."

The trio gladly returned to the warmth of the castle - even though the temperature of the castle's corridors didn't differ much from the temperatures outside, the castle still felt warmer.

"Hey, isn't that your friend?" Kiba nudged Naruto and pointed towards a raven haired Slytherin. "It's unusual to see him without his little group of fans."

Over the past month, Sasuke had become something like an idol to many of the girls in Naruto's year group - even some from Gryffindor and some in their second or third years students too - it very common to see Sasuke flocked by these girls between lessons and often found his female peers squabbling over who would sit next to the young Uchiha during classes; an argument usually won by Ino Yamanaka or Sasuke would wait until everyone else had sat down before he claimed a table to himself.

"Oh yeah," Naruto glanced around in search of the group of girls who were usually always three steps away from Sasuke; but the corridor was empty - with the exception of Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Sasuke and another person; who Naruto couldn't see very clearly, "who's he talking to?"

"It looks like Professor Orochimaru to me," Shikamaru squinted at the other figure.

"Maybe he wants to join Sasuke's fan base," Kiba snickered to himself.

They slowed their pace and watched as the teacher finished his conversation with the Slytherin boy and proceeded to walk down the corridor - towards the trio - while tucking something away in an inside pocket of his robes; Professor Orochimaru flashed them a curious stare as he caught sight of them and strode past the three boys, "good afternoon," he said with a grin, "shouldn't you three be heading down for lunch now?"

Without another word or waiting for a reply, Orochimaru disappeared down the corridor whilst humming to himself cheerfully.

"Well that didn't seem suspicious at all," Kiba commented sarcastically as he watched the older man walked away.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto ran towards the Slytherin who had started to walking in the opposite direction.

"What do you want, dobe?" Sasuke begrudgingly pivoted on the spot to face Naruto.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked; ignoring the nickname that Sasuke had given to him during their week of detentions. "Did you get into trouble or something?"

"I was handing in an essay - anyway, what business is it of yours if I was in any trouble?" Sasuke pointed out at Kiba and Shikamaru caught up with Naruto.

"An essay?" Naruto blinked at the Slytherin in confusion. "But we haven't had any essays for Defence Against the Dark Arts yet."

"Except the one about the bloody gnomes," Kiba remained the blond in an irritable voice.

"It was kind of a personal development thing," Sasuke admitted with a small shrug, "as I've already said, it's none of your business," Sasuke turned on the spot again and walked away from the blond.

"Personal development?" Kiba wrinkled his nose at the Slytherin's retreating back as he picked Akamaru up off of the ground. "I don't trust that guy."

"It seems too troublesome - just leave him alone," Shikamaru advised as he, Naruto and Kiba began to walk at a slow pace again, "it's not like he's hurting anyone."

* * *

 

The Great Hall was decorated with huge jack-o-lanterns, orange and black streamers and even some live bats. Naruto was sitting with his friends; Kiba and Bill, as well as a second year named Lee at the Gryffindor table.

"What's with the stage?" Kiba asked; eying the large performance area at the front of the Great Hall.

"My friend; TenTen, said that Professor Dumbledore invited the Weird Sisters to come and do a special concert for us," Lee told his younger peers in an excitable voice.

"Who are the Weird Sisters?" Naruto asked curiously.

"A wizarding band, they're quite popular - especially for witches and wizards around our age," Hana explained as she dropped into the seat beside her little brother; she was wearing a red robe with the number four and her surname embroidered on the back and the Gryffindor house crest stitched on the breast; complete with arm guards, knee and shin pads and gloves. Her clothes had large mud patches that had dried. "They're a relatively new band and due to their popularity, I doubt that Professor Dumbledore has asked them to perform here - sorry." She added to Lee.

"I swear that you don't really have any friends of your own,” Kiba grumbled through gritted teeth - he was careful enough to speak so quietly that only Naruto and Bill had heard him.

"Hana, how's the Quidditch practice going?" Lee asked the older girl.

"Good, but tiring," Hana admitted with a small shrug, "it's been tough finding a replacement for Renalds, but I think we'll definitely beat the Slytherins next weekend."

"What position did Renalds play?" Naruto asked the older Inuzuka.

"Chaser - the same as me," Hana replied, "he was the Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor too."

"So who's the Quidditch Captain now?" Bill joined the conversation.

"I am," Hana grinned proudly, "my friend Ayame has been giving me a few pointers - you've already met her." The older girl added nodding at Naruto and Kiba.

"I can't wait to cheer you on!" Lee gave Hana an encouraging thumbs up.

The Great Hall quickly became crowded as the while school filed into the cast hall and sat at their respective house tables; Naruto glanced over to the Slytherin table where he could see Sasuke sitting beside Ino - who was obviously trying to start up a conversation with the Uchiha. His gaze then flitted towards the Ravenclaw table where he quickly found Shikamaru in deep conversation with the pink haired Sakura Haruno.

Ever since he had seen the girl in the library, Naruto had tried to talk to Sakura but had quickly learnt that she was one of the girls who were showing an interest in Sasuke. The Ravenclaw girl often ignored Naruto's presence when Sasuke was nearby and was quick to criticise the blond when he and Sasuke got into one of their usual arguments in the corridors - that were usually caused by some remark about Naruto's efforts in class; particularly potions. None of this made the blond relent in his efforts to catch the young girl's attention though and it certainly didn't help his attitude towards the raven haired Slytherin.

"Why is everyone so cheerful?" Naruto frowned as he glanced around the Great Hall; noticing that the buzz of the students - and even the teachers - was much more lively than usual. "It's only Halloween."

"Only Halloween?" Kiba stared at Naruto in disbelief.

"It's a celebration for the wizarding community," Bill offered.

"That's right!" Kiba nodded in agreement. "Halloween unites the whole school with entertainment and a great feast! And we can stay up late in our dormitory tonight and find out who's really the most courageous Gryffindor."

"Well, it's not you," Hana laughed; ruffling her little brother's hair as she leaned into their conversation, "you still hide under your duvet during thunderstorms."

"Ack!" Kiba jumped in his seat; having been fully convinced that his sister was still engrossed in talk of the upcoming Quidditch match with Lee. "I do not!"

"Yes you do, I've seen you do it," Hana chuckled again.

"That's only because Akamaru gets scared and I need to comfort him!" Kiba retorted defensively.

"That's not what I meant," Bill rolled his eyes and drew the conversation back towards its original topic, "it was on Halloween last year that You-Know-Who met his downfall."

"You-Know-Who?" Naruto cocked his head at the ginger haired boy. "Who's that?"

"You've never heard of You-Know-Who?" Hana gawked at Naruto. "He's only one of the most infamous dark wizards of our age."

Naruto shook his head and stared expectantly at the older girl; he noticed that the atmosphere around the small group had become tense.

"You-Know-Who was an extreme supporter of magic supremacy," Hana lowered her voice to avoid being overheard as she began to explain, "he believed that any witch or wizard who were born to non-magical parents or defended the non-magical community were Blood Traitors. His followers; Death Eaters, attacked Muggle Borns, Muggles and Blood Traitors; usually these attacks would result in death."

"Wait, I think Shikamaru was telling me about this when we first met!" Naruto said as Hana’s words stirred something in his memory - he then turned in his seat to frown at the older girl, "yeah, he mentioned Death Eaters and a downfall during our sorting. I don’t get it though, why attack people just because they don't have magic or their parents don't have magic? They can't help how they were born."

"Shh!" Hana, Kiba and Bill hushed the blond in unison.

"Sorry," Naruto lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Trust me Naruto, I agree with you," Hana sympathised, "but you have to understand that it was statements like that that had whole families killed by the Death Eaters. I'm fairly certain that the Ministry haven't arrested all of the Death Eaters yet, so be careful with what you say."

"D-do you think there's a Death Eater at Hogwarts?" Naruto asked cautiously; glancing about himself to ensure that he had not attracted unwanted attention with his outburst.

"I think the chances are very slim - but you never know," Hana gave a small shrug, "you could be sitting in a classroom with one of their kids or something."

"Hey!" Kiba interjected; realisation lighting up his face. "Didn't mum say that -"

"Kiba," Hana growled a warning; silencing her younger brother with a glare while earning herself curious stares from Naruto and Bill.

"So, how did this guy meet his downfall?" Naruto queried; trying to break the tension between the siblings.

"Harry Potter," Hana replied simply.

"Harry Potter?"

"He was only a year old when You-Know-Who murdered his parents and turned his wand on him," Kiba elaborated.

"When He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named cast the Killing Curse on Harry Potter, the spell rebounded and killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named instead," Bill joined in.

"Why did the spell rebound?" Naruto cocked his head at his friends.

"Who knows?" Hana shrugged. "It's a mystery that we'd all like to know - that's why Harry Potter is famous - he is the only known survivor of the Killing Curse. Many great witches and wizards have been killed using that curse, but then an infant child lives with nothing more than a scar and the most powerful dark wizard disappears without a trace,” the small group fell into silence; each of them were deep in their own thoughts, "anyway, that's enough of the gloomy subject, we should be enjoying ourselves and looking forward to the feast," a grin spread across Hana's face as she clapped her hands together; stirring the three boys back into the present.

Professor Dumbledore stood on the stage and waited until the chatter and whispered conversations died down.

"Good evening," Professor Dumbledore beamed around at his staff and students, "I would like to like to welcome you all to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's annual Halloween feast. We have a small performance that has been brought to us by the ghosts of Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore announced; leading a round of polite applause.

The wizened headmaster took his leave as a rather large group of translucent figures ascended to the stage and the lights dimmed slightly.

"Why did it have to be ghosts?" Naruto groaned quietly; he nudged Kiba's ribs irksomely after catching the other boy sniggering to himself.

Everyone in the Great Hall watched as the Hogwarts ghosts began to tell the of the Hufflepuff house ghost's; the Fat Friar, life and death. They learnt that he had become a clergyman in a mendicant religious order; where he began to indulge in his food and drink. He then showed the other ghosts - who posed as fellow churchmen - a magic trick; he had pulled rabbits out of the church communion cup. The ghosts acted out a scene in which three peasants fell gravely ill with the pox and had begged the Fat Friar for his aid - to which he had gladly obliged - he then poked each peasant with his wand and cured the pox straight away; but this action had made the senior churchmen suspicious.

"We shall execute him and rid this world of the devil's evil!" Declared the ghost wrapped in chains; who Naruto recognised as the Bloody Baron.

"Oooooh!" A shrill giggling voice made everyone jump in their seats and stare about themselves wildly; even the ghosts on the stage looked surprised. "I've always loved a good execution!" The voice sounded as though it was coming from the walls themselves.

"Is this part of the play?" Kiba frowned. "If so, the ghosts are really good actors!"

"Oh no!" Lee exclaimed as Hana smacked her own forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Oh no?" Naruto blinked at Lee; feeling dread rise into his chest.

"Peeves," Hana sighed wearily.

"Peeves?" Bill asked.

A small man appeared in the air above the Ravenclaw table; he wore a vivid red bow tie, a hat that was covered in bells and green shirt with purple trousers. The man had black hair and orange, slanted eyes. In his arms he carried an assortment of stink pellets, ink bottles, jugs of pumpkin juice and eggs.

"Looks like he's been and terrorised the house-elves again," Hana tutted.

"Thought you could have a party without Peevesy?" The man gave a sniffle and pretended to wipe his nose in his sleeve - then his face split into a wicked grin as he began to flit around the Great Hall; dropping the eggs on the students. "Happy Easter!" He cackled loudly. "Merry Christmas!" He laughed again as he tipped one of the jugs of pumpkin juice over the heads of the prefects and threw stink pellets at the Head Boy and Head Girl - all of whom were trying to subdue the poltergeist. "That's lovely hair you have there," Peeves disappeared and reappeared above Sakura Haruno, "shall we dye it black?" Peeves laughed maliciously as he tipped three bottles of ink over her head.

Naruto pushed Sakura out of the way; shoving her so hard that she fell to the floor, and got caught by Peeves's attack in her place.

"I got whiskers!" Peeves cheered triumphantly as he continued to throw ink bottles and eggs and the dodging student. "I got whiskers! I got whiskers! Fifty points for me, I hit the jackpot!"

"That's enough, Peeves," A voice boomed over the poltergeist's chanting.

Peeves froze and stared at the ghost that was bound in chains.

"Mr Bloody Baron!" Peeves exclaimed with an expression of mocked shock. "I didn't see you there! I trust that you are well?"

"Be gone, Peeves," the Bloody Baron ordered furiously.

"As you wish!" Peeves removed his hat, bowed to the ghost and drifted away through a wall; blowing raspberries at the students as he disappeared.

In the silence that followed everyone could hear the poltergeist chanting, "I got whiskers!" As he departed down the corridors.

Naruto glance around at Sakura to see that Lee had helped her back onto her feet while the rest of the Great Hall had began to talk among themselves and clean up the mess that Peeves had left behind.

"Thank you," Sakura gave Lee a small smile.

"Hey Sakura, are you okay?" Naruto asked the Ravenclaw.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Sakura burst angrily. "Why did you shove me like that? I could've been seriously hurt!"

"I - I was just trying to help, y'know." Naruto tried to explain; wiping the ink away from his face.

"You should be more careful." Sakura lectured the blond before turning her attention towards a group of friends who had come to see if she was okay.


	10. Chapter Ten

Taunts and jeers followed Naruto through the corridors after the Halloween feast; many of the students had taken to nicknaming the blond as "whiskers" and had even started meowing at him like a cat when they passed him in the corridors.

"I can't help how I was born, y'know!" Naruto finally snapped at a bunch of snickered fifth years.

"And he has a proper name too, so you can stop calling him whiskers!" Another voice interjected as a hand clamped around Naruto's shoulder; making him jump and glance around at the source of the voice.

"S-Sakura?" Naruto blinked at the pink haired Ravenclaw.  
"I would move on if I were you, unless you're looking for trouble," Sakura threatened the older students as she clenched her fist and gave the fifth years an innocent smile.

"What's with the girls around here?" Naruto mumbled quietly to himself; remember a similar pose and expression on Ino Yamanaka's face. "They're all so scary."

The Ravenclaw's threat seemed to have worked; as soon as the words left her mouth, the older students had shuffled into motion while muttering among themselves. Sakura kept her offensive demeanour until they had completely disappeared; leaving herself and Naruto in the corridor on their own.

"Well that got rid of them for a little while," Sakura relaxed her position with a sigh and cast a smile at Naruto.

"I - thank you," Naruto gave the girl a questioning stare, "but why did you help me?"

"Because they were picking on you and that wasn't fair," Sakura replied simply; picking up the school bag that she had dropped just behind Naruto.

"But I thought you was angry with me," the Gryffindor frowned at Sakura.

"Angry?" She tilted her head to one side. "Why would I be angry?"

"Because I shoved you during the Halloween Feast - I could've really hurt you, you even said so yourself," Naruto explained.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that," Sakura confessed as she motioned for Naruto to follow her, "I shouldn't have spoken to you like that and I'm sorry. Thank you for moving me out of the way of Peeves."

"There's no need to thank me, Sakura," Naruto smiled to himself; feeling the heat rise to his face, "I should be thanking you - you helped me out with those fifth years."

"Let's just call it even," the Ravenclaw suggested with a small laugh.

"Just make sure that you don't get caught starting fights by the teachers," Naruto warned the girl, "otherwise you'll be spending a week with Professor Hatake."

"I did hear about that," Sakura pursed her lips, "did you get into a lot of trouble?"

"Let off with a warning,” Naruto sighed; casting his memory back to his second week of term, "we got given a lot of weird jobs," Naruto added with a chuckled.

The pair fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"How did you get all of that ink out of your hair so fast?" Sakura asked; noticing that Naruto's hair was is usual vibrant yellow.

"Oh, my friend's sister knows a vanishing spell, she did it for me after the Great Hall was tidied and the feast started," Naruto ran one of his hands through his blond locks, "she's been real nice to me and she annoys Kiba - so that's a bonus. How are you settling in?"

"I have Ino; we've been friends since we're were children," Sakura confided in the Gryffindor, "and I talk to Hinata whenever I see her."

"Hinata?" Naruto frowned. "That name sounds familiar."

"She's a Hufflepuff student in our year."

"Is she the one with short hair and pale eyes?" Naruto asked; picturing a girl who he occasionally worked with during Herbology. "She seems a bit weird to me."

"She's not weird," Sakura gave Naruto an incredulous look, "Hinata's really quite sweet when you get to know her," the pair slowed to a stop outside of Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration classroom, "I'll see you later, Naruto." Sakura waved as she joined the throng of Ravenclaw first years in the corridor.

"See you around," Naruto grinned at the pink haired witch - and gave Shikamaru a greeting nod as he passed the other boy - as he set off to his Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson in better spirits than he had felt for a while.

* * *

 

Naruto's good mood was shattered when he had managed to land himself in detention with Professor Orochimaru; he had forgotten to complete their assigned homework that was due in for their lesson and had forfeited his evening for his poor memory.

Naruto knocked on Professor Orochimaru's classroom door and slowly opened it; peering inside uncertainly, "professor?"

"Ah, Mr Uzumaki!" Professor Orochimaru greeted the Gryffindor with a calculating stare. "Come in and take a seat."

Naruto cast his eyes around the room as he crossed the threshold; expecting to see Kakashi, but the silver haired man was nowhere to be seen.

"It's only us, I'm afraid," Professor Orochimaru informed the blond after catching the surveying stare.

Naruto settled himself down at the desk in front of the teacher's desk. A small creature in a glass tank in the corner of the room caught Naruto's eyes, "er… professor, what is that?" He asked pointing at the grey creature.

Professor Orochimaru shifted his gaze to see what Naruto had pointed at, "that is an XX classified creature known as an Imp."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Not at all," Professor Orochimaru chuckled, "they can be quite bothersome at times; but they're just as harmless as a gnome - you'll be learning more about them during your next lesson. I had this one brought in so that I could teach my first years the Knock Back Jinx; this is why I wanted to make sure that you had your homework finished before our next lesson. I was going to ask for a Fire Crab or some pixies, but they can be quite a handful,” the teacher explained, "I think I'll let you all get a taste of the spell with this Imp before I introduce you to the likes of Fire Crabs and Pixies."

"Will the Knock Back Jinx hurt it?" Naruto frowned at the sleeping creature.

The older man shook his head, "the most you'll be able to do is daze it," he assured the blond.

Naruto gave an understanding nod before returning his attention back to his reason for being in the classroom, "am I writing lines today?"

"No, no," Professor Orochimaru shook his head again as he compared two pieces of parchment in his hands before scribbling a notation on one of the parchments, "what good would writing lines do? That would just be wasting both of our time, I would much rather have you doing something productive."

"Something productive?" Naruto questioned as he arched one of his eyebrows.

"I would like you to complete the homework that you failed to hand in," Professor Orochimaru gave the blond an eerie smile, "when it is done, I will mark it for you and you may leave - sound fair?"

"I guess," Naruto shrugged; feeling slightly taken aback. He then retrieved some spare parchment from his school bag along with a bottle of ink and his quill.

The following hour consisted of nothing but the scratching of Naruto's and Professor Orochimaru's quills against parchments. Every now and then, Naruto would break the silence with a resigned sigh or occasionally thud his head against the wooden table.  
Professor Orochimaru observed the boy with an expression of interest as Naruto leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling.

"You are allowed to use your textbook,” the older man pointed out; noticing that Naruto was trying to complete his homework through memory alone.

Naruto slowly moved his gaze downwards to meet his professor's eyes, "I didn't think about that," he muttered more to himself; the blond then dived under the table for his bag to retrieve his copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.

"You can find information on the Knock Back jinx on pages forty two, sixty nine and one hundred and thirty three," Professor Orochimaru informed the boy and then watched as Naruto ruffled through the pages of the book; marking each page that the teacher had suggested with a scrape piece of parchment, and he set off to work again - remembering to use the text book for information this time.

* * *

 

Naruto woke up with a jerk and stared about himself wildly for a few moments before he regained his focus of his surroundings; he was still sitting in Professor Orochimaru's classroom but the room was now dark - he had been slumped over the desk with his cheek pressed against the piece of parchment; which was now smudged with ink. Naruto rubbed his cheek subconsciously to get rid of any ink markings on his face as he continued to gaze around the room. His neck and back ached; to which Naruto had blamed the awkward position that he had sleeping in.

The chair that Professor Orochimaru usually occupied was now vacant and the wax of the candle on the teacher's desk had solidified again.

"Professor?" Naruto called out as he quickly rose from his chair. "Professor Orochimaru?"

Naruto gave a startled jump as the sound of nails scraping in glass reached his ears; he turned to see that the Imp in the glass tank had woken up too and was clawing at the glass in a futile attempt to get out - the blond heaved a relieved sigh and began to search the classroom or a source of light. He found some matches in the top drawer of the desk and relit the candle; he found some comfort in the light that the small flame emitted.

"Oh, you're awake," Professor Orochimaru spoke from the classroom doorway; startling the blond again.

"Professor!" Naruto whirled around on the spot - almost extinguishing his candle by accident - so that he could see the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, "you scared me!"

"That wasn't my intention, my apologies," the older man leaned against the doorframe, "you fell asleep during your detention and I didn't want to wake you - I think you've served enough of your detention."

Naruto gave the man a puzzled look, "but I haven't finished the assignment," the Gryffindor pointed out with a frown.

"You seem tired," Professor Orochimaru reasoned, "I'm sure I can let you off this one time - just make sure you finish the homework before our next lesson."

"Right," Naruto nodded picking up his belonging and stowing them away in his bag.

"It's rather late," the ebony haired teacher informed Naruto as he opened the classroom door to let the young boy leave enter the corridor, “you'll get into trouble for being out of bed after hours - let me walk you back to your Common Room."

* * *

 

Naruto, Kiba and Bill eagerly ascended to the stands of the Quidditch Pitch in the grounds of Hogwarts; they had decided to leave the school earlier than most of the other students so that they could find a place where they could easily see both ends of the Quidditch pitch.

Shikamaru met the three Gryffindor soon after; along with a plump boy who Naruto recognised as Chōji from his Herbology lessons.

"You guys must've got here early,” Shikamaru commented with a yawn.

"Of course," Kiba replied defensively as he set Akamaru down on the long bench between himself and Naruto, "my sister is playing in this match."

"And it's against the Slytherins," Bill pointed out to the Ravenclaw, “we're natural rivals."

"I just can't wait to see a Quidditch match," Naruto enthused with an excited grin, "I've never seen one before and I could do with a break."

"Hn, I should've known that you three would say something like that," Shikamaru smiled to himself, "You guys know Chōji, right?"

"Hey," the Hufflepuff at Shikamaru's side gave the trio a small wave.

"Hey Chōji," Bill grinned as he spotter the plump boy; while moving down the bench a little to make a space for Shikamaru and Chōji, while Naruto and Kiba beamed at the Hufflepuff.

The stands filled quickly as the students - and even the teachers - trudged down the school's lawns to the Quidditch Stadium.

"Whoa! Even Professor Dumbledore is here, look!" Naruto pointed towards the stand where the teachers were talking amongst themselves. "And Professor McGonagall!" Naruto shifted his pointing finger in the direction of the stern looking witch; who was standing in a deep discussion with Professor Snape. "She seems way to strict for this kind of thing though,” the blond Gryffindor added in an afterthought.

"Are you kidding?" Bill gave Naruto a look of disbelief. "She used to play for Gryffindor."

"No way," Naruto's eyes flitted between Bill and the witch in question while he tried to picture the woman wearing Hana's Quidditch robes, "are you sure you're not thinking of a different McGonagall?"

"Pretty sure it's her - I saw her name on a trophy in the school's Trophy Room," Bill nodded earnestly.

"What were you doing in the Trophy Room?" Shikamaru asked; arching an eyebrow at the redhead curiously.

"Polishing the trophies for detention," Kiba grumbled bitterly, "that dodgy old caretaker; Filch, caught us in the corridors after hours - we were looking for you, Naruto," Kiba added; nodding at the blond.

"Looking for -" Naruto gave his two fellow Gryffindors a confused stare, "when was this?"

"Back at the start of term," Kiba shrugged, "you landed yourself in a week load of detentions, remember?"

"On your first night of detention, you didn't come back to the Common Room until well after the curfew," Bill elaborated, "we got worried that you had run into Peeves or some other ghost - especially after what Kiba had said," Bill threw Kiba a reproachful look while their canine loving friend shuffled guiltily in his seat.

"So we used Akamaru to trace your scent," Kiba added brightly.

"And got lost on the fourth floor," Bill rolled his eyes.

"You got lost?" Shikamaru gave the pair a bemused look. "Even though you had a dog who can trace scents?"

"Akamaru was the one who got us lost in the first place," Bill stated with an amused smirk.

"It's not his fault!" Kiba snorted defensively; petting the white pup that sat beside him. "There were so many scents to follow and he was new to Hogwarts - he was probably feeling a bit overwhelmed!"

"Heh, excuses," Bill muttered to himself.

The stadium erupted with cheers - and jeers - as the red clad Gryffindors and the green clad Slytherins marched into the Quidditch Pitch with their broomsticks in hand. Hana and one of the Slytherin players strode to the centre of the pitch; where Gai was stood waiting for them with his own broomstick.

"Shake hands and mount your brooms," Gai instructed as he flashed a grin at the two team captains - the pair complied as the rest of their teams clambered into their broomsticks.

Gai opened the trunk at his feet with a flick of his wand - releasing two identical black balls and a very small, golden ball with wings - Gai then pick up a rather large red ball.

"Let the game begin!" Gai announced as he tossed the red ball into the air between the two teams; fourteen pairs of feet kicked off from the ground as their owners launched themselves into the air.

"Slytherin immediately takes possession of the Quaffle -" A voice; that Naruto recognised as Kakashi's, resonated around the stadium - causing the blond to cast his eyes around wildly until he found the white haired professor standing beside Professor McGonagall. "Hayashi passes to Jackson, Jackson passes the Quaffle to Young - oh! A nice interception from Foster; Gryffindor are now in possession of the Quaffle -"

Naruto flinched as one of the black balls zoomed past Foster's head; only narrowly missing the boy.

"That was a close one," Kakashi chuckled, "Foster dodges Jackson - passes to Inuzuka - Inuzuka to Chapman; she dodges a Bludger with a Sloth Grip Roll -"

The Gryffindors applauded as their Chaser caught the Quaffle and quickly let herself slide from the broomstick until she was hanging upside down to evade another of the black balls that had been aimed at her by a Slytherin Beater.

"Isn't she worried about falling off or something?" Naruto grimaced as he watched the girl regain her balance on the broomstick.

"Of course not," Kiba laughed, "Hana's probably trained them so much that falling off of a broomstick is the least of their worries."

"Chapman's soaring towards the goalposts - reverse pass to Inuzuka; oh, did she drop it?" Kakashi tilted his head to get a better view of the players. "No, she's used a Parskoff Play to pass the Quaffle to Foster! An excellent strategy, if I can say so myself - Foster to Chapman - Chapman back to… nope, intercepted by Young; Slytherin in possession. Young throws the Quaffle to Jackson - back to Young - to Jackson - to Young - to Jackson -"  
The Quaffle zigzagged between the two Slytherin Chasers while the Gryffindors tried to regain the red ball.

"Another Parskoff Play from Young to Hayashi; who enters the scoring zone - Hayashi scores! Ten points to Slytherin!" Kakashi announced as the students holding up green banners in support for Slytherin cheered and the Gryffindor supporters groaned. 'Slytherin in possession; Hayashi to Jackson - Jackson avoids a Bludger and passes to Young; never mind, Gryffindor has the Quaffle now. Inuzuka throws the Quaffle to Foster, a reverse pass to Chapman; she's tearing around the pitch and passes to Foster - ah. A nice Parkin's Pincer by Hayashi and Young, but I'm still quite sure that that is Blatching,” Kakashi tutted as Hayashi and Young trapped Foster in between themselves while Jackson accelerated towards the middle Chaser with the intentions of a collision.

Gai blew on his whistle and gave Jackson a lecture about rivalry and comradeship while many students voiced their disapproval of Jackson's action.

"I'm pretty sure that he's making up some of these moves on the spot,” Naruto frowned at the white haired man; taking advantage of the temporary pause in the game. "Parskoff Play? Sloth Grip Roll? Parkin's Pincer?"

"They're all real moves," Chōji assured the blond; pulling out a bag of crisps and offering them to his friends.

"Seriously?" Naruto blinked at the Hufflepuff in disbelief. "It sounds like he's inventing new techniques to sound smart."

"Chōji's right,” Shikamaru smiled as he took some of Chōji's crisps, "you should've probably read up on the sport before you came to the match; you'd be able to understand it a bit more. The library should have a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages; that'll tell you all you need to know."

"Who needs books?" Kiba waved off Shikamaru's suggestion. "Just watch and learn!"

"And that's a penalty shot for the Gryffindors," Kakashi's voice drew Naruto's attention back towards the game of Quidditch, "the penalty shot is taken by Foster and that's ten points to Gryffindor. All players are back in the game with Gryffindor in possession; Inuzuka passes to Chapman - intercepted by the Slytherin team; Young to Jackson - Jackson to Young - Young back to Jackson who then passes to Hayashi; nice dodge there. Hayashi approaches the goalposts again - the Quaffle was just a stretch too far out of reach for Yamada; ten points to Slytherin! Making the score twenty: ten to the Slytherins."

The stands erupted with cheers and jeers again as the players readied their positions again.

"Slytherin in possession; Young to Hayashi to Jackson - Jackson is hit by a Bludger… that looked painful -" Kakashi continued his commentary, "Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle; Foster to Chapman; a reverse pass to Inuzuka who just narrowly misses a Bludger - Inuzuka evades both Hayashi and Young; it looks like she might score."

"Go one, Hana!" Kiba yelled; pumping his fist in the air and making Akamaru yelp as he sprung to his feet.

"She can't hear you," Shikamaru grumbled as he gave the boisterous Gryffindor an irritable glare.

"So what?" Kiba shrugged. "I'm still gonna cheer her on, aren't I?"

Naruto, Bill and Chōji watched with bated breaths as Hana focused her aim and launched the Quaffle into the air - leaving Kiba and Shikamaru to finish their petty squabble.

"Eastman just misses the Quaffle by the tips of her fingers; that's ten points to Gryffindor!" Kakashi called out over the deafening roars of the rowdy students. "Gryffindor in possession; Chapman to Inuzuka - Inuzuka back to Chapman who passes to Foster - Foster is hit by a Bludger and drops the Quaffle; caught by Inuzuka who dodges two Bludgers - good job! Inuzuka to Chap- nope, Slytherin intercepts. Jackson to Hayashi - Hayashi to Young; well done on evading Inuzuka! Young reverse passes to Hayashi, another reverse pass to Jackson; who easily dodges between the Gryffindor Chasers - should've watched that Bludger though."

Naruto and Chōji winced, Bill his behind his hands, Kiba gave a snort of laughter and Shikamaru remained indifferent as one of the black balls collided with Jackson's face. The Slytherin Chaser cradled his nose as blood began to seep through his fingers; but he diligently kept his grip on the Quaffle with his other hand.

"He looks like he's really hurt himself," Bill commented through gritted teeth and a pained expression.

"He's fine," Kiba said with a dismissive shrug.

The game continued; but Kakashi's commentary was absent - to which many students remained oblivious, but those who had noticed the absence of the white haired man's voice quickly cast their eyes expectantly towards the commentator's podium; where the man in question could be seen - and heard - giggling with his head buried in a small orange book.

"Professor Hatake!" Professor McGonagall whispered sharply at the man. "Kakashi!"

"Hm?" Kakashi wrenched his gaze from the pages of his book to meet Professor McGonagall's stern glare. He quietly glanced about himself; realising his mistake. "It wasn't a foul?" He asked sheepishly - he had expected Gai to interrupt the match to lecture the players about fair play and sportsmanship; and so he had used this time as an excuse to whip out his volume of Make Out Paradise.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Professor McGonagall fumed. "Can't you last five minutes without diving into that book?" The witch glared at the small tome as though it had personally offended her.

"My apologies," Kakashi chuckled nervously; putting his book away as an angry Professor McGonagall supervised his every move.

"Now will you please pay attention?" Professor McGonagall asked in an exasperated tone as he rubbed her forehead.

"Right," Kakashi nodded as he turned his attention back to the Quidditch match - oblivious to the fact that most of the students had heard his exchange with Professor McGonagall and were now laughing at him, "Slytherin have the Quaffle; Jackson to Young; who enters the scoring zone and shoots… ten points to Slytherin!"

The green and silver clad students cheered as the Slytherin players raced around the pitch in a victory lap and the Gryffindors groaned in disappointment; even Akamaru gave a low growl.

"Slytherin in possession; Hayashi to Young - nice tackle Foster! Foster to Inuzuka; drop passes to - oh, intercepted by Hayashi - Hayashi to Jackson; reverse passes to Young who evades an oncoming Bludger with another Sloth Grip Roll - Young passes to Jackson; but Inuzuka beat him to it! Inuzuka to Chapman, back to Inuzuka, back to Chapman who throws the Quaffle to Foster - he shoots…"

Naruto felt himself and his peers around his tense as the Quaffle left Foster's hand and hurdled towards the goalpost.

"Yakushi saves it," Kakashi announced as more cheers and groans issued from the stands.

"Damn that four eyed freak!" Kiba glared at the bespectacled Slytherin Keeper who was now holding the Quaffle with a smug smirk.

"Calm down," Chōji shushed the Gryffindor while Naruto tried to silently warn the Hufflepuff behind Kiba's back, "it's just a game."

"Oh no," Naruto moaned; dropping his head into his hands; while Chōji and Bill threw the blond a perplexed look.

"Only a game?" Kiba slowly turned to face Chōji.

"Here he goes again," Shikamaru huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Are you mad?" Kiba burst; making Naruto and Chōji jump while Bill slid a little away from the group and pretended he wasn't with Kiba as other students around them began to stare. "Quidditch is an essential sport in the development of members of the wizarding community!"

"Not this talk again," Shikamaru groaned.

"Quidditch helps us to increase our agility and reaction speed," Kiba ranted patriotically, "both of which are good attributes of a master duellist -"

"He sounds like Professor Maito," Naruto muttered disapprovingly; receiving a nod of agreement from Bill, "shut up, Kiba!" The blond added; nudging his friend in the ribs.

"A master duellist?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at Kiba as he surveyed the Gryffindor before he turned his focus back towards the match with a wary sigh. "You're too troublesome."

"If you're interested in becoming a duellist, why don't you just join the duelling club?" Chōji suggest between a mouthful of crisps.

"First years aren't allowed," Kiba grunted with an annoyed look on his face; quickly losing his fiery attitude, "I can't see why not though."

"Maybe because you don't know any offensive or defensive spells yet,” Shikamaru offered, “and you're not allowed to join the Quidditch team yet either, so how is Quidditch supposed to help you at the moment?"

"Everyone bonds over Quidditch," Kiba retorted dismissively.

"You call this bonding?" Shikamaru asked; motioning towards the match in session - it had become more evident that both the Gryffindor and Slytherin players had become more brutal in their game.

"There's nothing wrong with a healthy rivalry."

"He definitely sounds like Professor Maito," Naruto sighed.

"Look!" A girl who was sitting behind Naruto pointed towards the Slytherin Seeker; who was in a nose dive towards the ground of the pitch.

" -points to Slytherin; making the score fifty: twenty to the Slytherins," Kakashi's commentary reached their ears again, "oh, it looks like Walters has spotted the Snitch with Suoh hot on his tail!"

By this point, everyone's attention - including the other players on the pitch - was now focused on the two Seekers; the stands were divided between cheering on Walters and cheering on Suoh. The two Seekers pulled out of their dive simultaneously as try raced towards the base of the Gryffindor goalposts with their arms outstretched; ready to snatch the Golden Snitch out if the air. The two players collided with each other and fell off of their broomsticks; tumbling to the ground together.

The stadium slowly began to buzz with confused murmurs and the two opposing teams hovered uncertainly in the air on their broomsticks.

"Who caught the Snitch?" Naruto asked; squinting down to the ground at the two tangled Seekers.

"I dunno," Chōji frowned.

"Did they even catch it?" Bill enquired; following suit if many students around him and raising to his feet to get a better look.

Walters and Suoh finally rose to their feet; Suoh waved the Snitch above his head and beamed widely while Walters propped himself up against the goalpost while nursing a rather nasty looking cut above his left eye.

The Gryffindors erupted with cheers while Hana and the rest of her Quidditch team - who were still airborne - pumped their fists encouragingly.

"They did it!" Kiba roared in triumph as he jumped to his feet; forgetting that Akamaru had been resting on his lap until the pup fell with a loud yelp. "Oh, sorry Akamaru."

Akamaru whined in response before he jumped onto Naruto's lap instead.

"Kakashi Hatake!" Professor McGonagall's voice sounded again. Will you put that blasted book away and announce the winning team already!"

"Oh, did the match finish?" Kakashi ruffled his hair and smiled at the witch guiltily as Professor McGonagall snatched the book from his hand furiously. "Erm… who won?"


	11. Chapter Eleven

Bill frowned as he prodded the blond with the end of his wand, "try again."

Naruto nodded at the redhead and repeated the incantation; aiming his wand at the severed cushion on the desk in front of him, "Reparo!"

The feathers and the casing of the cushion slowly gathered together in a pile in front of the blond Gryffindor; but the cushion did not repair as it should have done.

"I don't get it," Bill furrowed as he pointed his own wand at Naruto's cushion, "Reparo!"

The cushion instantly repaired itself.

"Try the Severing Charm," Kiba suggested as he neglected his own cushion to watch Naruto and Bill's efforts.

"Diffindo!" Naruto tried; creating a small tear in the middle of the plump cushion. "W- why can't I do the Severing Charm either? I could do it last lesson," Naruto groaned as he his head onto the table.

"How the hell do you unlearn a spell?" Kiba enquired as he cast his gaze between Naruto and the cushion. "Maybe there's something wrong with your wand - does it feel any different than usual?"

"No," Naruto shook his head slowly as he slowly rolled his wand over in his fingers, "I don't think so anyway."

"Have you been feeling unwell lately?" Bill asked; turning in his seat to face his friends properly. "Sometimes, that can affect your magic."

Naruto shook his head again.

"Maybe you're turning into a Squib - you can get a job with Filch and his cat!" Kiba suggested in a teasing tone; earning himself two punches in the same arm from his friends. The brunette rubbed his arm as he grinned playfully at Naruto and Bill.

"There must be something," Bill mused thoughtfully, "you can't just suddenly forget how to cast spells."

"I haven't forgotten!" Naruto snapped defensively. "I just - I can't… y'know." The blond let his sentence drop as he grimaced at the cushion.

"You just need to practise more," Kiba clapped Naruto's shoulder as he gave the blond a small but encouraging smile, "you're not going to cast spells perfectly all the time, so you've got nothing to worry about."

"Less talking and more practising, boys!" Professor Flitwick called out to the trio from the front of the classroom; causing a few of their peers to glance back curiously.

"Just have a little more confidence in yourself," Kiba muttered out of the corner of his mouth as he and Bill turned their attention back towards their own cushions, "you'll be back to your normal self in no time."

"Mm," Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he stared at his cushion with a worried expression.

* * *

 

Despite what Kiba had said, Naruto couldn't help but feel disheartened as his inability to cast spells as well as he had done so before became more and more evident. He seemed to mess up in all of his lessons - especially those that had required incantations and spells - and soon Naruto found that he had fallen behind in almost all of his classes.  
Professor Snape had even picked up on Naruto's shoddy wand work during their potions lessons and - much to the delight of the Slytherins - has even used it as an excuse to deduct points from the Gryffindors.  
Naruto had felt more embarrassed when he had been the only student who had failed to daze Professor Orochimaru's imp during the Gryffindors' Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

"Not to worry," Professor Orochimaru reassured the blond boy in a chirpy tone - that didn't suit the man's appearance at all, "just practise for about half an hour a night, you'll have the spell perfected in no time,” he then raised his voice for the rest if the class to hear, "that's enough for today; I think we'll try something new next lesson, perhaps I can get some Fire Crabs or some Pixies to practise on - then we can concluded our module on the Knockback Jinx and -"

Naruto stopped listening to Professor Orochimaru as he closely examined the wand in his hand.

"Maybe there is something wrong with my wand," Naruto murmured to himself as he checked the instrument for any signs of visible damage.

Naruto tried to ignore his troublesome thoughts during his History of Magic lesson; instead he focused his attention on taking class note or writing scribble messages and jokes to Kiba and Bill until the bell rang to signal the end of the teaching period; when Naruto quickly shoved his parchment, ink and quill back into his bag and departed - muttering something about overdue homework to Kiba and Bill as an excuse to rush off ahead without his friends.

Naruto didn't slow his pace down until he reached the Library; he had been checking over his shoulder every now and again to make sure that his friends hadn't followed him. The young Gryffindor was relieved to see that there was only a handful of other students in the Library - the rest of the school would have probably returned to their Common Rooms or (for those unlucky few) were serving detentions with the Professors while they waited dinner.

Naruto grabbed a few books off of the closest bookshelf without paying any attention to their titles or authors and settled himself down at a table hidden away in the corner of the Library; where he propped one of the books open to conceal himself from the hawk-like librarian before he dived into his school bag for one of his spare quills and his wand.

"D-Diffindo!" Naruto murmured; pointing his wand at the quill after hastily casting his eyes about himself.

The quill remained intact.

"Diffindo!" Naruto tried again; but he only achieved the same result. "Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo!" Naruto gave a frustrated grunt as the quill remained unscathed.

Madam Pince coughed over Naruto's shoulder - startling the blond. He whipped his head around to face the woman with a sheepish grin as he hid his wand up the sleeve of his robes.

"Dropped my quill," Naruto chuckled as he held up the feather.  
Madam Pince raised a sceptical eyebrow at Naruto but moved away from the young Gryffindor; eyeing him suspiciously while he pretended to study one of the books until she was out if sight. Naruto withdrew his wand his wand again when he was sure that the woman was gone.  
"Diffindo!" Naruto whispered and was pleased to see a small split in the stem of the quill; this feeling quickly passed when he remembered that he had successfully cast the spell several times during the previous week. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The blond tried a different spell; knowing that he was definitely good at this spell, but the quill remained flightless on the wooden table. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Naruto chanted more urgently.

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice reached the Naruto's ears.

The Gryffindor peered over the top of the book that he had propped up in front of himself to see the pink haired Ravenclaw staring at him with a curious expression.

"You've got a lot of books there, are you studying for something?" She approached his table and picked up the first book on the top of the large pile. "A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, Human Transfiguration, The Theory of Transfiguration -" Sakura gave Naruto an incredulous look. "Naruto, all of these books are NEWT level!"

"Huh…" Naruto threw the books a calculating look before he shifted his gaze back toward the pink haired girl. "I guess that I just really like Transfiguration," Naruto chuckled lightly; he felt the heat rise to his face.

"Really?" Sakura asked with an intrigued look upon her face as she slid into the chair opposite Naruto. She lowered her voice so that only Naruto could hear her. "Are you trying to become an Animagus?"

"Uh huh," Naruto nodded with a grin - he didn't know what an Animagus was, but he would rather lie than admit that he couldn't cast simple charms to Sakura.

"That's really impressive,” Sakura whispered in awe.

"Um… I've just got one question to ask you," Naruto stated as his blush deepened with embarrassment.

"What's that?"

"What's an Animagus?"

"What's an -?" Sakura blinked at the blond Gryffindor in confusion, before her expression quickly changed to realisation and then once more to annoyance. "You're not really studying Transfiguration, are you?"

Naruto gave a small, guilty laugh as he ruffled his hair nervously, "Uh… no," He confessed with a defeated expression.

"Then why did you get all of these books out?"

"I wasn't paying attention really paying much attention when I grabbed them."

"And why did you lie to me?" The Ravenclaw enquired angrily as she shook her head at the boy.

"Well… uh… why are you here anyway?" Naruto countered; trying to change the subject as he stowed his quill and wand away in his bag.

"I - what's it got to do with you?" Sakura snapped defensively as her face flushed red; clashing with her pink hair.

As Sakura replied, a familiar ebony haired Slytherin caught Naruto's eye - making the blond stare around at the table in the parallel corner to where he was now sat with Sakura.

"Sasuke - I should've known." Naruto muttered; casting his gaze between Sakura and the Slytherin. "Wait a minute!" He glanced back towards Sasuke's table and realisation dawned on his face. "Are - are you using me as an excuse to sit here and gawk at that stuck up bas-"

"Shut up!" Sakura swatted the blond over the head and then pretended to read one of the Transfiguration books as Sasuke glanced in their direction - Naruto pulled a face at the ebony haired boy; making Sasuke turn his attention back to his own work with a snort.

"He's not looking at us anymore," Naruto grunted irritably while he watched Sakura peek at Sasuke over the pages of The Theory of Transfiguration before throwing another glance in the young Uchiha’s direction, "why's he got so many books?"

"Probably because he's actually studying?" Sakura suggested; narrowing her turquoise eyes to glare at Naruto. "He comes to the Library quite a lot; sometimes he'll skip meals just to keep studying."

"Stalker," Naruto snickered at Sakura; earning himself another hit from the girl, "ow, I was joking Anyway, he can't be that far behind on homework, can he?" Naruto added; drawing the pink haired girl back to their conversation.

"With the amount of work he does?" Sakura gave a short laugh. "No way!"

"Have you ever asked him what he's up to?"

"Ino has," the pink haired girl informed Naruto, "but he told her that it was personal research."

"That excuse again," Naruto murmured to himself and he cast his watchful gaze towards the Slytherin - he then leaned back in his chair with a sigh as he spotted a few more girls lingering around the Library staring at Sasuke with keen interest, "I don't get it, why is he so popular?"

"He's smart, he's good looking and he has a natural talent for magic," Sakura replied easily; smiling fondly at Sasuke.

"He's a stoic, stuck up bastard, more like," Naruto grumbled to himself., "seems you're not the only one who's learnt Sasuke's routine though," Naruto smirked as he spotted Ino Yamanaka and the usual group of spying girls sneaking around the nearby bookshelves to catch a glimpse of Sasuke Uchiha.

"That sneaky little -" Sakura glowered at the blonde Slytherin as she rose to her feet; tossing her long hair over her shoulder as she stood up. Naruto had no doubt that she was going to confront the other girl; Naruto quickly decided that he wanted nothing to do with the whispered argument that would ensue between the girls and turned his attention back to his own business.

* * *

 

Naruto hitched the strap of his bag more comfortably over his shoulder as he left the Library and headed down the Great Hall for dinner; trying to ignore the headache that was given to him after Madam Pince had chewed his ear off for practising spells in her domain - not that he had particularly paid the woman much attention, but he snappish tone had somehow penetrated through his ignorant deafness and he had found himself mocking her words in his mind and snorting irritably.

"It was just a small scratch on the table," Naruto huffed to himself quietly, "and it's fixed now anyway," He had Kakashi to thank for that; the teacher happened to be in the Library at the time and had overheard Madam Pince's lecture. After assuring the librarian that he would give Naruto a proper punishment, Kakashi steered the blond out of the woman's earshot, advised Naruto not to use the Library to practise spells in future and offered his own classroom instead - but this didn't stop him from taking five points away from Gryffindor for vandalising school property, "I've gotta admit, the guy seems fair - at least it wasn't another week of detentions," Naruto sighed as he reasoned with himself.

"Look at her eyes!" A voice reverberated from the end of the corridor; stirring Naruto out of his stupor. The voice belonged to a boy but it wasn't a voice that Naruto was familiar with.

"Creepy, right?" Another boy's voice joined the first. "And what's with the weird haircut?"

"Please, just leave me alone." A third voice - this one belonging to a girl - pleaded - she sounded tearful.

"I'm surprised that you can even see - you haven't got any pupils!" The first voice heckled.

Naruto rounded the corner of the corridor in time to see a boy pull on a Hufflepuff girl's hair; making the girl drop all of the books that she had clutched to her chest while she attempted to step away from the two boys.

Naruto was angered to see an older boy with long brown hair and the same pale eyes as the girl wearing Ravenclaw robes walk past the commotion without intervening - even when one of the boys harshly grabbed the girl's upper arm.

"Hey!" Naruto called out to the boys; feeling more irked that the Ravenclaw still hadn't stopped to help or at least respond to Naruto's call - he instead just walked around the corner and continued until he was out of sight and earshot. The blond curled his hands into fists and marched up to the two boys who were assaulting the Hufflepuff girl.

"Why don't you leave her alone and pick on someone your own size?" Naruto challenged the two boys - despite the fact that he barely reached their chins in height; they must've been in their third year, at least.

"Look! Whiskers has come to save you," one of the boys sneered at the girl, "how cute!"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto growled at the boys; dropping his school bag to the floor. "And you better remember that!"

"Alright, Naruto," one of the boys drawled; he took a step closer towards the blond with a cocky grin; leaving the other to keep hold of the Hufflepuff, "you wanna duel?" He asked; whipping his wand out of his sleeve. "If you win, we'll leave your little girlfriend alone."

"Fine," Naruto smirked; withdrawing his own wand as the two older boys shared a disbelieving glances and began to snigger.

"Expelliarmus!" The boy yelled; pointing his wand at Naruto - forcing the blond to duck out of the way as a red jet of light streaked past him; narrowly missing the side of his face.

"What the -?" Naruto dodged again as another red spell rushing in his direction. "Dammit," Naruto clenched his jaw, "I forgot that these guys would know more offensive spells," Naruto dived behind a statue of an one eyed witch as another spell was shot at him.

"Oi! This isn't a game of hide and seek!" The boy teased as his friend roared with laughter. "I thought you came to help the girl!"

Naruto peered around the hump of the witch's statue; catching sight of a suit of armour just behind the boy who had a right hold of the Hufflepuff. The blond then moved his gaze to the stone walls thoughtfully.

"I can't get close enough to hit him with all these spells flying about but if I can make enough noise, maybe I'll get the attention of a teacher," Naruto mused to himself quietly; remembering that he had just seen Kakashi in the Library minutes ago - the Gryffindor carefully aimed his wand at the helmet of the suit of armour, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The head slowly lifted away from the rest of the armour as Naruto carefully guided it with his wand towards one if the stone walls - with the helmet in mid flight towards the closest wall, Naruto's spell failed; causing the metal to plummet towards the ground. "Crap! Please not now!" Naruto swore through gritted teeth as the head of the armour fell onto the duelling boy; encasing the boy's head and obscuring his view with the visor.

"Get it off! Get it off!" The boy screamed at his friend while he tugged at the helmet.

The boy's friend let go of the girl and rushed forwards to help his friend, "I can't! It's stuck!"

Naruto stepped out from behind the statue and watched the pair struggle with an amused expression; barely believing his own luck.

"What's going on here?" Another voice issued from behind Naruto; making the blond jump and pivot on the spot until he was facing another boy.

This boy had white hair that was tied back into a ponytail - he wore Slytherin robes and had round glasses. Pinned to the front of the boy's robes was a gleaming badge with the letters "HB". If Naruto had to guess by appearance alone, he would say that this boy was in his sixth or seventh year at Hogwarts.

The blond Gryffindor was sure that he recognised this boy from the Slytherin versus Gryffindor Quidditch match that had taken place at the beginning of the month - if his memory served him right; this boy was the Slytherin Keeper that Kiba had called a four eyed freak.

"Fighting in the school corridors," the newcomer shook his head and tutted at the younger students disapprovingly, "you two should know better," he added; giving the two boys who had bullied the Hufflepuff a stern glare, "I'm taking ten points from each of you."

"What gives you the authority to do that?" The boy with the helmet stuck on his head burst angrily as he tried to get a glimpse of the white haired boy through the visor.

"I'm the Head Boy; Kabuto Yakushi," The newcomer replied coolly.

"You're going to take points away from your own house?" The other boy protested as he gave Kabuto an incredulous stare and signalled towards his own Slytherin robes.

"Yes, I am," Kabuto glowered, "now, I'd take your friend to the Hospital Wing to get that helmet removed before I decide to deduct anymore points,if I were you," Kabuto threatened; flashing his glasses dangerously.

The two bullies didn't need telling twice. They gathered their belongings and rushed through a door that led to the Grand Staircase; leaving Naruto and the Hufflepuff girl alone with Kabuto Yakushi.

"Hinata?" Naruto blinked at the girl when he turned to face her; he recognised her instantly now that he could see her face properly.

"If you're being bullied by older students, you should really inform a teacher rather than try and take matters into your own hands," Kabuto informed the two first years as he watched Naruto help Hinata gather her books off of the floor, "you would've been in serious trouble if I was one of the professors," Kabuto stooped down, grabbed Naruto's bag off of the floor and handed it to the blond, "You shouldn't go picking fights with older students either."

"N-Naruto was trying to help me," Hinata spoke up; fiddling nervously with the books that were now back in her possession.

"And Hinata was being picked on, she didn't do anything wrong," Naruto replied defensively.

Kabuto gave the pair a calculating stare, "alright - I won't take any points from Hufflepuff," He concluded, "but you still shouldn't be fighting, so I'm still taking the ten points from Gryffindor," he added to Naruto.

The blond gave an understanding nod.

"Just count this as a warning though - you two should probably move along now," Kabuto advised, "don't worry about the armour, I'll fix it."

Naruto and Hinata hurried through the door and onto the Grand Staircase while Kabuto watched them closely; they were relieved to see that the other two boys were long out of sight as they descended the stairs.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked; surveying the girl closely.

"I- I'm fine," Hinata smiled gratefully at the blond, "thank you, Naruto - I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't have been there."

Naruto frowned as his eyes focused on Hinata's slightly ruffled hair where one of the boys had grabbed her bangs, "bastards," Naruto murmured to himself, "you shouldn't let people pick on you like that, Hinata. I'll wipe the floor with them if I ever see them bullying you again," Naruto growled to himself. "That's a promise."

Hinata cast her eyes downwards with an expression mingled with embarrassment and gratitude, "I wish I had your confidence, Naruto." Hinata mumbled in an almost inaudible voice.


	12. Chapter Twelve

"What are they all gawking at?" Kiba wrinkled his nose at the large group of Gryffindor students huddled around the Common Room notice board - the brunette haired boys stood up from his position on the hearth rug and craned his neck in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the notice board.

"It's only the Christmas list," Hana replied idly as she readjusted the newspaper in her hands to read a small column.

"A Christmas list?" Kiba quirked an eyebrow at his sister.

"It's just a list of students who want to say at school for Christmas this year," Hana elaborated, "Professor McGonagall puts the list up every year - I noticed that your name is on the list already, blondie." The older Inuzuka added as she nodded at Naruto over the top of her newspaper.

Naruto - who was sat cross-legged in the armchair finishing his Herbology essay for Professor Sprout - stared at Hana for a fraction of a second; mentally catching up on the conversation, before he quickly dropped his gaze back towards his parchment while muttering something about having a quiet Christmas in the castle.

"It looks like there will be loads of people staying at Hogwarts this year," Kiba commented as he jerked a thumb towards the crowd around the notice board - that was now slowly dissipating - and gave Naruto a sympathetic look.

"They're just being nosy," Hana gave a small laugh, "almost none of them will put their names on that list - it's been the same over the past few years. There will be six - maybe seven - names on that list and most of them will be seventh year students."

"Why seventh year students?" Naruto asked curiously.

"It's their final year at Hogwarts, so most of the seventh years stay for as long as possible," Hana gave a small shrug, "nostalgia, I expect."

"So are you staying this year?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"I think the novelty of the castle has worn off for me," Hana shook her head, "I’ve spent Christmas here every year up until last year - Mum thought that I was safer here during the war."

"What about Kiba?"

"Mum could look after me," Kiba joined in, "but sometimes she would leave me with our neighbours while she ran errands for the Order."

"I don't get it," Naruto cocked his head to one side as he gave the siblings a questioning stare, "why would your mum be okay looking after Kiba but not Hana?"

"She could've looked after both of us easily," Hana replied, "but it would be pointless to let me leave the safety of Hogwarts while the war was still raging. Loads of parents had the same thoughts and doubts - especially after students were kidnapped or killed during the holidays. I think that almost the whole house group stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas during my third year, but the war's over now, so I doubt many students will be staying at Hogwarts this year."

"What about you Kiba?" Naruto turned his attention towards the younger Inuzuka. "Are you staying for Christmas?"

"Not this year," Kiba replied with an apologetic expression on his face, "Mum said that we're going away this Christmas - she's always wanted to go to Finland; I'm going to stab a guess and say that she wants to watch the wolves," Kiba added in an undertone.

"Watch the wolves," Naruto gave his friend a confused stare.

"Every time we go abroad, mum takes us to some of the countries with the highest population of wolves," Hana explained, "last year we went to Belarus -"

"Mum got into a fight with some Muggle bounty hunters," Kiba shuddered, "Mum's scary when she's angry - she started yelling at them and challenging them to I fight, I thought they were going to leave the wolves and take Kuromaru for their bounty instead."

"Mum's favourite animals are dogs; the wilder they are the more she likes them," Hana elaborated as she spotted Naruto's nonplussed expression, "seeing as dogs are descendants of wolves, she sees wolves as wild dogs, so we usually get to follow and observe wolf packs while we're on holiday."

"Mum says that it's good for Akamaru to pick up some wolf-like traits," Kiba added brightly, "it'll help him learn tracking, marking and hunting techniques."

"I see," Naruto nodded slowly; straining his imagination to picture the domesticated puppy as a fierce wild beast - but instead he had to stop himself from laughing at the thought of Akamaru baring his teeth and yapping at a wolf ten times his size.

"Anyway, what's Bill doing for Christmas?" Kiba enquired; pulling Naruto out of his thoughts.

"He's spending the holidays with his family," Naruto informed the brunet as he began to reread his essay and Hana turned her attention back towards her newspaper, "he said that this year is his little sister's first Christmas, so he wants to spend time with the whole family."

"Bill has a sister?"

"He has five brothers too," Naruto nodded as he scribbled a notation on his parchment.

"Five brothers and a sister?" Kiba gaped at Naruto disbelievingly. "I can barely handle one sister Siblings are a pain in the -"

"Watch it!" Hana growled; swatting her younger brother over the head with her newspaper and a disgruntled expression. "Bloody pest." She grunted as she settled down into the sofa more comfortably.

* * *

 

With most of the school now vacant of students due to the Christmas holidays, Naruto found that he had the whole Common Room almost to himself; Hana's prediction had come true. Although many had gone home, some of the seventh year students had chosen to stay at Hogwarts - yet usually spent their days studying for their NEWTs in the Library or daring each other to walk across the frozen Black Lake when they had decided to take a break from their snowball fights, while in the evenings some of the older students would bring snacks back to the Common Room to roast on the open fire - calling Naruto and anyone else who was nearby to join them.

Naruto took advantage of the empty Common Room to practise his spells - and he was pleased to see that he was definitely improving and catching up to the rest of his peers again.

During the first few days of the holidays, Naruto was relieved to see that Rock Lee had also remained at Hogwarts for Christmas and often stayed by the ebony haired boy's side - until he discovered that this meant that Lee would drag the blond down to the Quidditch Pitch every morning to run five hundred laps around the pitch with Gai the flying instructor.

"I- is that even possible?" Naruto asked; giving Lee a confounded stare. "Wouldn't you have trouble keeping count of all the laps you do?"

"Of course it's possible," Lee nodded earnestly, "it's all part of our training."

"Training?" Naruto cocked his head at the older boy as he stuffed his freezing hands in the pockets of his orange and blue jumper. "Training for what?"

"Lee!" Gai called out from the other side of the pitch. "You're early today."

"I want to work hard to surpass the genius; Neji!" Lee declared in a confident voice. "I will prove that I too can become a powerful wizard!"

"Wait, what does running laps around the Quidditch pitch have to do with magic?" Naruto murmured quietly to himself.

"You are burning with the passion of youth!" Gai grinned at the ebony haired boy as he clasped a hand around Lee's shoulder encouragingly. "You truly are a genius of hard work! You'll surpass Neji in no time. Let's run seven hundred and fifty laps around the pitch on our hands."

"On your hands?" Naruto burst in disbelief; eying the snow covered grass with a shudder.

"Why not make it one thousand laps?" Lee suggested enthusiastically. He balanced himself on his hands as Gai followed his lead and Naruto watched the pair in astonishment.

"You're full of hot blood today, Lee! One thousand it is!" Gai gave Lee a determined smile.

"Come, Naruto." Lee urged the blond. "It's good exercise."

"Uh… maybe next time - I promised Professor Flitwick that I would help him decorate some more of the Great Hall today," Naruto lied; backing away from the eccentric pair, "I'll see you in the Common Room later."

Naruto pivoted on the spot and walked briskly across the Quidditch Pitch before Lee or Gai could suggest another ludicrous idea; he glanced back at the pair over his shoulder to see that Gai and Lee had already started their first lap of the pitch.

Naruto trudged back across the snow covered grounds; dodging a stray snowball from a nearby fight between the few remaining Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students.

He was relieved to be back in the warmth of the castle as he stopped in his tracks to warm his cold hands with the flame of a nearby touch that was mounted on the stone walls. The blond heaved a sigh of boredom and allowed himself a few minutes to decide what he was going to do in Lee's absence.

"I've still got all of my homework for the holidays to do or I guess I could practise some more spells," Naruto frowned to himself, "not that I'm in the mood to do it - all of my other friends have gone home; even Shikamaru, Sasuke and Sakura. Maybe I could go and see Kakashi," He finally decided with a huff as he started to ascend the Marble Staircase.

"Naruto!" A familiar voice reached the blond's ears; making Naruto turn as he reached the top of the stairs.

"I- Iruka?" Naruto blinked disbelievingly before a wide grin spread across his face. The blond ran back down the stairs towards the familiar brunette. "Iruka! What're you doing here?"

"I asked Professor Dumbledore if I could spend Christmas at Hogwarts," Iruka smiled gently as Naruto skidded to a halt in front of him, "otherwise I would have been spending the holidays on my own anyway," he added with a small shrug as he glanced about the blond, "where are your friends?"

"They went home for Christmas," Naruto replied glumly, "only a few students stayed - Lee's been keeping me company, but he's busy at the moment."

"Oh," Iruka frowned at the blond, "well, how about we spend some time together?" Iruka suggested; his comforting smile returning to his features. "I have a little something for you."

"You do?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I was just passing through Diagon Alley before I apparated to Hogsmeade - I was just picking up some books - and I saw Teuchi so he asked me to pass this on to you," the older man explained as he carefully withdrew a plastic container from his satchel.

"Teuchi? You mean the old man, right?" Naruto peeked inside the container to see steaming ramen inside. An even bigger grin lit up the blond's face. "You and old man Teuchi are the best, y'know!"

"I thought it would cheer you up,” Iruka laughed; pulling out his own container of ramen and two pairs of chopsticks to show Naruto, "come on, let's sit together in the Great Hall."

Naruto happily told Iruka about his time at Hogwarts since their last correspondence; everything from the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin to his detention with Professor Orochimaru as they settled down at the Gryffindor table and are their ramen.

"You don't remember anything before that?" Iruka grimaced at the blond with a confused expression. "You just fell asleep."

"I remember that I had to finish my homework, but I don't remember feeling tired or anything at the time," Naruto tried to cast his memory back to the detention, "one minute I was writing while Professor Orochimaru was marking homework, I think - the next minute I was asleep at my desk and it was really dark."

"Have you told any of the other teachers about this?"

"No," Naruto shook his head, "Professor Orochimaru was there and he didn't seem alarmed or worried about it - he just said that he didn't want to wake me and then he walked me back to the Common Room when I woke up so I wouldn't get told off. I thought he was quite nice about it. It's Kakashi you have to watch out for."

"Kakashi?" Iruka gave the blond a bewildered stare.

"I did a load of detentions with him at the beginning of the school year, remember? I had to do stuff like clean the Owlery and tend to Hagrid's pumpkin patch," Naruto snorted, "my friend; Bill, told me about his little trick."

"What trick?"

"He picks up jobs around the school and then makes his students in detention do them - if he hasn't given out any detentions, he'll offer to take detentions for other teachers."

"At least it's better than writing lines," Iruka pointed out.

"Slave labour," Naruto grumbled.

"If you can't handle the punishment, don't break the rules, knucklehead." Iruka lectured Naruto but ruffled the boy's hair affectionately all the same. "How are your classes going?"

"Lousy," Naruto heaved a heavy sigh, "I think the Potions Master hates me, I'm struggling to cast spells so I'm falling behind in Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts - but I'm practising whenever I get the chance to, so I'm catching up to the rest of my class again!" Naruto added brightly. "I'm still trying to turn mice into snuffboxes in Transfiguration - but Bill, Kiba and Paige are struggling too, so I can't be that far behind with that - and History of Magic is boring me to death; Professor Binns just stands there and reads from his notes all lesson."

"What about Astronomy, Herbology and your flying lessons?" Iruka asked; he had been counting the classes off on his fingers as Naruto spoke.

"I guess Astronomy is okay - I use guess work for a lot of it though and Professor Yūhi seems nice enough," Naruto grinned sheepishly as Iruka, "and Professor Sprout says that I'm really good at Herbology!" Naruto told the older man earnestly. "I'm one of the best in my class - I guess that it's because I like plants and gardening so much. Gai said that I'm a natural at flying and I have… hot blooded youth coursing through me or something like that," Naruto frowned quizzically, "I don't really get what he means sometimes."

"Does anyone?" Iruka murmured to himself; remembering the energetic man from when they were both students at Hogwarts. "It sounds like you're working hard, Naruto."

* * *

 

Naruto was woken up on Christmas Day by a tapping noise near the bed that was usually occupied by Tobio Fujiwara. The blond rolled out of his bed; blinking groggily while stretching and yawning as he crossed the dormitory and opened the window - letting a large grey owl fly past his head to drop a parcel on Bill's bed and perch itself on the top of Naruto's four poster bed. The owl ruffled the snow from it's feathers; spraying Naruto with icy water droplets.

"Hey!" Naruto wiped a few droplets off of his cheeks as he surveyed the owl with disgruntled expression. "Wait, you're Bill's owl; Errol. What're you doing here? Bill went home for the holidays," Naruto stated as he cautiously approached the owl - worried that the bird may ruffle his feathers again. The blond shifted his gaze from Errol to the parcel that the owl had dropped on Bill's bed; he shuffled towards the bed and curiously picked the parcel up and examined the unfamiliar handwriting on the envelope.

_Naruto Uzumaki_

"For me?" Naruto asked aloud.

Errol hooted in response before he took flight once more; departing out of the open window while Naruto tore the envelope open and read the message inside.

 _Dear Naruto,_  
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  
From  
The Weasley Family

Naruto smiled to himself as he pulled the brown paper off of the parcel to reveal an orange knitted jumper with a large blue 'N' in the centre along with a rather large tin of homemade ginger biscuits. He wished that Errol hasn't left so abruptly so that he could write a thank you message to Bill and his family; he decided that he would get dressed and go to the Owlery instead. Naruto placed the tin of biscuits and the knitted jumper on his bed; finally noticing another thin, wrapped parcel.

"Huh?" Naruto picked the second package up and examined it; finding another note attached to it.

Naruto Uzumaki,  
You seemed to take a liking to Quidditch when we last spoke,  
Enjoy it.

"When we last spoke?" Naruto stared at the note in confusion - he tore the wrapping paper from the package and examined the two books inside. "Quidditch Through the Ages and Quidditch Teams of the United Kingdom and Ireland," Naruto read the titles aloud; he turned his gaze back towards the scribbled message, but found no name other than his own - knowing that the handwriting looked familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where he had seen it before. "Quidditch... Quidditch... old man Teuchi? I've never seen his handwriting before, I know I've seen this somewhere! Iruka? No, we've spoken about stuff other than Quidditch and he's here in the castle - he wouldn't have needed to leave a note on the packaging,” the blond slowly shook his head as he tried and failed to think of who the present may be from; he put the books down with his presents from the Weasleys - deciding that he would try again later - and scribbled a message to say thank you and to wish the Weasleys a Merry Christmas too - he then washed and dressed himself before he left the dormitory and headed to the Owlery; wishing Lee a Merry Christmas as he passed through the Common Room.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Naruto joined Lee and Lee's Hufflepuff friend; TenTen - a girl who was also in her second year with brown eyes and brunet hair that was tied into two neat buns - as they headed to the Great Hall for Christmas dinner. Due to the fact that most of the school's students - and even some of the staff - had gone home to their families during the Christmas break, the Great Hall only held one of the usual four house tables. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Orochimaru and Madam Pomfrey - the school's matron - had already settled themselves down at the table along with a few sixth year Ravenclaw girls; who were talking animatedly about the gifts that they had received that morning.

"Wow!" TenTen gasped excitedly as they passed through the huge oak doors into the Great Hall. "Professor Flitwick sure knows how to decorate! Look at those Christmas trees!" She pointed at one of the twelve Christmas trees; which seemed to have live fairies chasing each other through the branches and baubles while they giggled happily.

"The snow looks real," Naruto commented in an impressed tone as he gazed up at the enchanted ceiling.

"That's because it is real," Lee chuckled as he led his friends towards the table.,"the ceiling mirrors the weather outside, didn't you notice it before?"

"I didn't think it was real storm clouds and stuff," Naruto replied; frowning at the ceiling slightly.

Soon after, more students and teachers entered the Great Hall and joined the table and it wasn't long before Professor Dumbledore raised his goblet of mulled wine in a toast.

"Merry Christmas!" The wizened man beamed brightly at everyone's at around the table.

"Merry Christmas!" The students and teachers chimed together as they raised their own goblets in unison and the table began to fill with food.

Platters full of roast turkey, stuffing, carrots, Yorkshire puddings, roast and mashed potatoes, pigs in blankets and a lot of other food piled up along the table along with boats of gravy. The conversation around the table split into separate conversations; so that Naruto's ears were filled with a low buzz as he, Lee and TenTen helped themselves to the delicious looking food; Naruto laughed as Lee grabbed as much food as he could - mainly vegetables - while claiming that he needed to eat healthily for his training.

"Give it a rest Lee," TenTen rolled her eyes at the ebony haired Gryffindor, "it's Christmas! Relax for once, will you."

"But I have to -" Lee began.

"No you don't," TenTen lectured sternly as she put more roast potatoes on Lee's plate, "you can have at least one day off."

"I guess I could train later," Lee reasoned with a small shrug; digging into the food on his golden plate, "or maybe I could train now! Naruto, let's see who can hold a headstand for the longest while we eat!"

"Eh?" Naruto started at Lee in astonishment.

"Don't even think about it, Lee," TenTen sighed warily, "and don't drag Naruto into your antics," TenTen frowned as she spotted Lee's crestfallen expression, "how about a snowball fight after dinner? You can train while we play?" She suggested in an afterthought.

"That's a great idea, TenTen." Lee perked up with a huge grin.

Naruto heard Professor Dumbledore chuckle and glanced around to see that the headmaster had been watching and listening to Lee and TenTen’s conversation.

Professor Dumbledore's eyes met Naruto's and the old man gave Naruto a small wink before he turned his attention to start a conversation with Professor Orochimaru and Madam Pomfrey.

"Sorry we're late," Kakashi apologised as he and Iruka entered the Great Hall, "we were tending to an injured owl," Kakashi laughed nervously while Iruka let out a sheepish chuckle.

Naruto was amused to see Professor McGonagall purse her lips disapprovingly at Kakashi's excuse.

"Not to worry," Professor Dumbledore smiled; his blue eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles in the light of the flamed torches, "I do hope that the owl will make a full recovery," Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet and welcomed the two wizards to the table.

"Thank you, headmaster," Kakashi grinned behind his bandana while Iruka inclined his head at Professor Dumbledore, "I'm sure that the owl will be fine, but I assure you that if I will consult Professor Kettleburn if it takes a turn for the worse."

Professor Dumbledore nodded knowingly as he regained his seat and continued his conversation with Professor Orochimaru and Madam Pomfrey while Iruka occupied a chair opposite Naruto - so that he was sitting beside TenTen - and Kakashi settled down into the chair next to Naruto.

"Tending to an injured owl," Iruka shot at Kakashi sarcastically in an undertone, "you're a terrible liar."

"What else was I supposed to say? He's sitting right there." Kakashi countered in a low voice.

"I was busy reading my book," the brunette suggested with an amused gleam in his eyes, "that's what you're usually doing."

"You know what Professor McGonagall is like for punctuality, if she thought I was reading my book she'd kill me."

"I'm sure of it," Iruka snorted.

"You should've heard her after the Quidditch match last month," Kakashi chuckled at the memory, "you'd think I was one if the students," Kakashi caught sight of Naruto out of the corner of his eyes - noticing that the blond had been listening to their discussion with an interested expression, "good afternoon, Naruto - how are you feeling today?"

"Um… fine, thanks." Naruto replied; feeling taken aback at the abrupt change of subject.

"That's an interesting necklace," Kakashi commented as he motioned towards the blue crystal around Naruto's neck, "was it a Christmas present?"

"Oh this?" Naruto fiddled with the crystal for a moment before he tucked it under his orange jacket and shirt; he was surprised that he hadn't noticed it earlier, he was usually careful enough to keep it out of sight - even at Hogwarts - he guessed that it was an old habit from the orphanage. "No. I've had it for as long as I can remember."

"Can I have a look?" Kakashi asked - the white haired man then watched as Naruto tentatively removed the necklace and placed the blue crystal in the palm of on his hand; Kakashi surveyed the necklace in his hand with interest for a few minutes before passing it back to Naruto, "it must be very important to you,” Kakashi commented as he turned his attention towards the platters of food in front of him, "make sure you keep it safe."

Gai entered the Great Hall soon after Iruka and Kakashi - he decided to join Naruto's group - much to Lee's delight, but Naruto was sure that he saw a flash of panic in TenTen's eyes.

As soon as everyone had had their full of food, the golden plates were cleared away until they were spotless before they refilled with Christmas puddings, mince pies, ice creams and cream cakes.

"I forgot about pudding," Naruto groaned to himself, "now I regret eating all of that turkey," he glanced in Kakashi's direction, "what the -?"

"Is there something wrong?" Kakashi asked as he quirked an eyebrow at the blond.

"How are you eating with that bandana on?"

"I take it off," Kakashi replied simply with a shrug.

"I didn't see you take it off!" Naruto stared at the man in amazement, but a questioning frown soon adorned his features. "Why do you wear a bandana all the time?"

"I have to keep my face concealed because I'm just too attractive," Kakashi explained, “otherwise everyone gets distracted."

"Yeah right!" Naruto snorted. "Iruka's right, you're a terrible liar," he then gave the older wizard a grin with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"I'd give up now if I were you, Naruto," Iruka warned the blond with a laugh as he spotted the look in Naruto's eyes, "I've known him for years and I've never seen him without that bandana on."

A loud thudding noise made everyone sitting around the table jump and stare about themselves in bewilderment.

"It's okay," a seventh year boy reassured everyone, "Hagrid's just fallen off of his chair."

Naruto, Lee and TenTen glanced around to see that the large man was lying motionless on the floor while one of the Ravenclaw girls poked his arm uncertainly.

"Too much Fire Whiskey, I expect," Professor Sprout tutted dismissively, "he'll come round soon enough."

The students shared looks of unease while the teachers returned to their conversations and began to pull the large Christmas crackers that were placed along the table.

"Naruto?" Iruka stirred the blond's attention; while offer him the other end of his Christmas cracker.

Naruto grasped the other end of the card tubing and gave it a sharp tug; he flinched as the cracker let off a sound similar to gunfire and white mice leap from the crackers.

The Christmas dinner ended with an out of tune chorus of Ye Ole Hippogriff - which Naruto listened to rather than sang as he wasn't familiar with the lyrics - and the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Entertainment was then unintentionally provided by Gai; who decided to challenge Kakashi to one of their "legendary fights" - which really turned out to be a series of ridiculous tasks that the two men would set each other. After a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, it was decided that Kakashi was picking today's ludicrous challenge.

"Can't we have at least one day where they act normal?" TenTen sighed as she watched the two adults dart about the Great Hall; trying to catch more of the white mice from the Christmas crackers than the other.

Lee egged Gai on; he jumped to his feet while he pumped his fist in the air to encourage his favourite teacher and soon after everyone else around the table - including the teachers - began to cheer for either Kakashi or Gai; with the exception of Professor Dumbledore who cheered for both men.

* * *

 

Naruto and Lee bade goodbye to TenTen at the Entrance Hall as they ascended the marble staircase and TenTen departed through a side chamber with a small wave. The two boys then rushed up the Grand Staircase to the seventh floor - where the Gryffindor Common Room was located.

"Tinsel," Naruto and Lee said automatically as they reached portrait of a rather large woman.

They were surprised to see that the portrait of the Fat Lady - a painted woman who guarded the Gryffindor Common Room - was empty.

"What the -?" Naruto furrowed his brow. "Where'd she go?"

"I'm 'ere! I'm 'ere!" A woman's voice called out as a familiar woman wearing a pink dress stumbled into the framed picture with a bottle of wine in one hand and dragging another - equally drunk - woman into her frame with the other. "What time d'you call this?" The Fat Lady shot and Naruto and Lee scornfully. "You should 'ave been in bed hours ago!"

"It's only four o'clock in the afternoon!" Naruto replied irritably as he checked his watch.

"'M not stupid," The Fat Lady lectured the blond while her friend giggled gleefully and took a sip from her wine glass, "now, d'you have the password or not?"

"Tinsel," Lee and Naruto replied in frustration.

After taking a swig from the wine bottle and more giggles with the other woman, the Fat Lady finally let the two boys pass through her portrait into the Common Room.

"Why'd she have to go and get drunk?" Naruto huffed as he and Lee crossed the Common Room to the stairs that led to the boys' dormitory.

The pair departed for a moment as they entered the respective dormitories to change into dry clothing and grab the biscuits that they had received from the Weasleys earlier in the day before they finally collapsed with exhaustion on the sofa in the Common Room.

Naruto shuffled off of the sofa - onto the hearth rug - and warmed his numb hands against the crackling fire. After a few moments, Lee too slid off of the comfortable sofa to join Naruto on the rug; sharing the biscuits while talking animatedly about their plans for the following day until they finally fell asleep before the fire.

* * *

 

The castle soon returned to the usual hubbub as the students returned to school after the Christmas holidays; after having the whole castle to explore in peace and quiet during the term break, Naruto found that the return of the other students made him feel a little claustrophobic. He was sad to see Iruka leave the day after Boxing Day - and had even asked the older man to visit him when he could.

"He's really taken a shine to you, Mr Umino," Professor Dumbledore chuckled as he ruffled Naruto's hair; the elderly wizard had joined Naruto in the Entrance Hall to bade goodbye to Iruka and wish him a happy New Year, "which reminds me - have you had a change to consider my proposal?"

"It's a big responsibility," Iruka frowned slightly at the headmaster while Naruto gazed between the two men curiously, "I'll need some more time to think about it, but I assure you that we will speak about it again soon."

"Very well," Professor Dumbledore smiled warmly at the brunette, "the very best to you until we meet again, Mr Umino."

"And you, sir," Iruka bowed his head at the man before giving Naruto a final smile and heading out of the school's large front doors with his belongings.

Naruto felt a sudden sense of loneliness with Iruka's absence but tried to push it to the back of his mind. He was thankful that he had TenTen and Lee to keep him occupied throughout the rest of the holidays. TenTen had taken it upon herself to meet Naruto after lunch almost every day to take him to the Quidditch pitch; where she would pick out two of the better broomsticks from the school's cupboard and practise shooting the Quaffle through the hoops or defending the goals - she decided against getting the Bludgers out in fear of them knocking Naruto off of his broomstick.

As soon as their classes had started again, all thoughts about the Christmas break and Quidditch practise was pushed out of Naruto's mind - he even found that he didn't see TenTen much either, but would smile in greeting if he passed her in the school's corridors.

Kiba had returned from Finland eager to tell Naruto and Bill what he had taught Akamaru during his holiday abroad.

"He can track scents better now," Kiba grinned proudly, "and he's pretty good at marking."

"Anything is an improvement in comparison to his last attempted at tracking," Bill muttered in an undertone; earning himself a hard punch in the arm, "well it's true!" He added defensively while Naruto sniggered into the Aconite plant that he was watering.

"Shut up," Kiba muttered sulkily,  
"Weasley!" Professor Sprout called out to gain the redhead's attention while giving Naruto's small group a stern glare, "you're watering your plant to much, the roots are too fragile for a vast amount of water - the soil should be moist, but well drained. Aconite is very hard to grow so pay attention."

"Yes professor," Bill nodded as he turned his focus back towards the plant rather than his conversation with Naruto and Kiba.

"Stupid plant," Kiba muttered at the purple hooded plant as he moved closer to the workbench and his own Aconite plant.

"Inuzuka, where are your gloves?" Professor Sprout shot at Kiba. "I warned you at the beginning of the lesson that Aconite is poisonous."

"P-poisonous?" Kiba blinked at the Herbology teacher with a shocked expression.

"Have you touched the plant yet?" Professor Sprout asked in a very serious voice.

"No," Kiba shook his head.

"Good! Now wash your hands and put your dragon hide gloves on before you start your work. Listen to me next time rather than talk to your friends - five points from Gryffindor," Professor Sprout gave Kiba, Naruto and Bill a knowing stare, "foolish boy," she tutted as she moved on to inspect Hinata Hyūga's work.

"A- am I going to get poisoned?" Kiba asked his two friends in a panicked tone while he turned his hands over and examined them for any signs of damage.

"You haven't touched it yet," Naruto reminded Kiba, "just don't touch it until you put your gloves on, but you should probably got to the Hospital Wing if your arms feel numb or start tingling."

Kiba stared at Naruto in horror before rushing off to wash his hands.

"Is he okay?" Chōji enquired; he had looked up from his own aconite plant to watch Kiba.

"He's fine," Naruto reassured the Hufflepuff boy with a small grin, "he just needs to be more careful around Wolfsbane."

"Wolfsbane?" Bill and Chōji gave Naruto a perplexed look.

"Aconite is the official name for this plant," Naruto explained as he smiled fondly at the purple flower, "but it's also known as Wolfsbane of Monkshood. It can be used in potions; like Wolfsbane Potion and the Wideye Potion, but the leaves are very poisonous and it's easily absorbed by our skin - that's why we have to wear our dragon hide gloves. The name Wolfsbane comes from the fact that toxins in the plant were used to kill off unwanted wolves."

"Very good, Mr Uzumaki," Professor Spout praised Naruto as she walked passed the blond and his friends again - she peered over Naruto's shoulder to survey his plant with a pleased expression, "the soil is just right and I've noticed that you've been storing your plant in a rather shaded area of the greenhouse."

"I read that Aconite prefers to grow in damp and partly shaded areas because the conditions are cooler," Naruto confessed sheepishly, "but they can grow in the sun too," he added quickly.

"Well done," Professor Sprout beamed at Naruto, "ten points to Gryffindor," the plump woman chimed happily before she walked away to watch Naruto's peers tend to their plants.

"How did you know all of that?" Bill gawked at Naruto.

"I read through our Herbology book through the Christmas Holidays," Naruto removed his gloves to dive under the workbench to retrieve his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi from his bag and showed it to Bill and Chōji, "I had a lot of spare time so I read the whole book - Wolfsbane isn't mentioned in here much, but I went to the library and found some more books. I'm kinda lucky I guess, it seems to have come in handy for our lessons," Naruto chuckled as Kiba returned with his dragon hide gloves on this time.

"Speaking of Christmas - mum got your letter," Bill told Naruto, "she's really pleased that you liked it - she made it herself. I told her that you were staying at Hogwarts instead of going back to the orphanage, you see." Bill explained in an undertone as his ears turned red in embarrassment. "She got a bit teary over it and then she was worried that you wouldn't get any presents for Christmas so she got her knitting out -" Bill's sentence trailed off into mumbled nonsense.

After about an hour, Professor Sprout gained the class' attention by tapping an empty plant pot with a hand trowel as the lesson finally drew to an end.

"I think we can wrap up our section on Aconite now," Professor Sprout announced, "I want you all to complete an essay on the history, uses, precautions and how to grow and propagate Aconite by our next lesson - your essays should be at least two rolls of parchment," she added; giving the class a stern glare as everyone - except Naruto and a few Hufflepuffs - groaned at the thought of homework.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Despite the hard work that he had put into catching up with - and even surpassing - his classmates on his wand work and spells, Naruto had soon found that he was struggling to keep in step with his fellow peers as lessons began again in the New Year; he was soon dedicating his spare time to practising spells in the library again and was becoming rather self-conscious about his wand work - and so he would pretend that his mistakes were deliberate and laugh alongside his fellow Gryffindors. This had resulting in the blond becoming something like a class clown and was even egged on by a few of his friends; including Kiba. Professor McGonagall and the other teachers, however, did not seem to see the funny side of Naruto's shoddy and inadequate practical work. And so - for the second time in the school year - Naruto found himself occupying the wooden chair in front of Professor McGonagall's desk with a feeling of dread churning in the pit of his stomach while the stern witch occasionally gazed at him over her glasses and gave him another lecture.

" -or so Professor Orochimaru tells me, whereas Professor Flitwick expresses concerns for your practical work; you are now the only first year student who has failed to master the Repairing and Unlocking Charms - you should be ready to move onto the Locking Charm by now," Professor McGonagall chastised the blond; flashing him another shooting glare over the top of her spectacles, "Professor Snape has told me that your potion making skills are abysmal and I've seen your Transfiguration work for myself and to be quite frank with you, I'm concerned over the affect you are having on Mr Inuzuka and Mr Weasley; if you continue to distract them in my classes, I will be forced to more you away from your friends and I will be suggesting that your other professors are to do the same," she finished reading from a piece of parchment that was resting on her desk and stared expectantly at Naruto.

Naruto fidgeted awkwardly in his chair; he had no idea what to say to the woman and even if he did, he wasn't sure he could say it due to the lump that had risen in his throat. Instead, the blond dropped his gaze and avoided any eye contact with the other occupant of the office.

"You are aware that you have your end of year exams soon, yes?" The witched prompted Naruto.

"Yes, Professor." Naruto replied in a quiet voice with a small nod.

"And you are aware that you cannot continue into your second year if you do not achieve satisfactory grade?"

Naruto's head snapped up and - for the first time since he entered the office - his blue eyes met Professor McGonagall's green ones, "no," he felt his throat constrict even more as his dread turned to panic, "I wasn't."

The blond could've sworn that sympathy flashed across Professor McGonagall's face for a mere fraction of a second.

"Perhaps you ought to pay more attention in class from now on, Mr Uzumaki," she suggested, "and practise you spells in your spare time."

"I -" Naruto began to counter the woman, but quickly disregarded what he was going to say as Professor McGonagall raised a curious eyebrow at him - he didn't want to land himself into more trouble by arguing with the woman, "yes Professor," he mumbled in place of his counter argument.

The woman pursed her lips and surveyed Naruto thoughtfully - for a few moments she looked as though she wanted to say something else but soon shook her head dismissively, "you may leave," she finally spoke.

Naruto silently rose from the chair and crossed the small room to the office door; barely believing his luck that he had managed to sit through a telling-off from Professor McGonagall without gaining a week's worth of detentions or losing house points.

"Mr. Uzumaki," Professor McGonagall called out.

"I've jinxed my own luck," Naruto thought dully as he stopped in his tracks and pivoted on the spot.

"Professor?" He addressed the witch out loud.

"Is there... anything you would like to discuss?" Professor McGonagall enquired in a slow voice; she was still giving Naruto a piercing stare.  
The blond frowned as he recalled the witch asking him the same question during the first encounter he had had in her office.

"No," Naruto gave the same answer that he had last time; despite the fact that he had several worrisome thought whirl around his head as she asked the question, "nothing."

He turned back towards the door as Professor McGonagall spoke again - but more softly this time, "we have a saying here at Hogwarts," she told the blond, "help will always be given to those at Hogwarts who ask for it."

"I'll bear that in mind, Professor," Naruto gave Professor McGonagall a bright grin over his shoulder before he finally left her office.

* * *

 

With Professor McGonagall's warning constantly racing around Naruto's mind, the blond pushed himself as hard as he could. He remained adamant to hide his struggling from his classmates in fear of yet more teasing - he was still being taunted by a few older students after the "Whiskers" affair with Peeves - he even made lame excuses to detach himself from Bill and Kiba after their lessons to seek refuge in the Library or empty classrooms - if they were not occupied by fifth and seventh years practising for their exams - to continue practising his spells away from the prying eyes of his classmates.

After a rather lengthy conversation with Kakashi, Naruto had learnt that he could make up for a few his more undesirable grades with his outstanding Herbology and acceptable Astronomy grades - Naruto wondered if the man was given the task by Professor McGonagall to help encourage the blond to work harder in his lessons.

"But that's no excuse to slack off in your other classes," Kakashi added more sternly, "your Herbology grades will only get you so far, you still need to study hard and push your grades up some more."

Naruto soon noticed that he had attracted the attention of a particular Slytherin; Sasuke had ignored Naruto's regular presence in the Library at first - the ebony haired boy would sit the table in one corner while Naruto would occupy another table in the adjacent corner - but after the first week and a half, Sasuke began to ignore his own work to watch Naruto; who decided to increase the tower of books that he used to conceal himself in an attempt to stop the nosy Slytherin from watching him. It was bad enough that Naruto was often paired up with the raven haired Uchiha during their potions lessons - where Naruto had to endure Sasuke's taunts every time he made the smallest mistake; of which were often echoed by Professor Snape moments later - but he wasn't about to add fuel to the fire by letting the other boy know that he was still behind in his other classes.

To Naruto's surprise and horror, Sasuke - who, for some reason, had entered the Library later than usual - had taken it upon himself to sit with Naruto.

He slammed his book down on the table with his bag; making Naruto's wall of books topple over onto the blond's head while Madam Pince glared furiously at the ebony haired boy.

"It was an accident," Sasuke said dismissively while Naruto rubbed his painful head and Madam Pince continued to stare at Sasuke pointedly before shuffling away.

"What do you want?" Naruto shot at the Slytherin.

"Nothing," Sasuke replied stiffly as he settled into the chair opposite Naruto's.

Naruto eyes the other boy suspiciously as Sasuke retrieved a large roll of parchment, an ink pot and a quill from his bag; he unfurled the parchment and opened the book to a marked page before he absorbed himself into his word while Naruto stared at him as though the Slytherin had deeply offended him.

The Gryffindor silently stowed his wand away and took his own parchment, ink and quill out of his school bag; without removing his eyes from Sasuke.

For a long time, the pair remained quiet - each engrossed in their own work - the silence between the two boys was only interrupted by the scratching of their quills and the occasional huff or sigh of frustration. Naruto dropped his quill on top to his astronomical charts - he was making neater copies of the notes that he had made in his Astronomy lesson the previous night. He stretched and yawned; finally casting his eyes towards the Slytherin.

Sasuke was hunched over a book while frantically taking notes. Naruto squinted at the title of the page that Sasuke was reading from.

"Chakra?" Naruto gave the dark haired boy a perplexed look.

"It's an assignment," Sasuke replied dismissively.

Naruto furrowed his brow at Sasuke and frowned, "which class is it for?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," The other boys answered rather reluctantly.

"We haven't learnt anything about chakra," the Gryffindor stared at Sasuke sceptically.

"I'm further ahead in my classes because I'm not a dead last," Sasuke retorted in a somewhat defensive tone; he glowered at Naruto over the top if his quill before he lowered his head again to take more notes.

The blond snorted irritably at Sasuke as he lent back in his chair and gazed at the Slytherin with a curious expression.

"What's wrong with your usual corner?" Naruto shot at Sasuke as he jerked a thumb towards the table that Sasuke usually occupied.

"It's too dark in that corner," Sasuke gave a quick and simple reply, "I can read my books and notes much easier over here."

It was as Sasuke finished his sentence that Naruto spotted Rosalyn Kennedy and Gwen Sampson loitering around a nearby bookshelf - Naruto quickly averted his eyes away from the two girls and pretended that he had not noticed them; instead he focused his attention back towards his immediate surroundings. Due to Naruto's leaning tower of unused books, his workspace and Sasuke's workspace there was no long any room left on the table that the two boys were sharing - Naruto had no doubt in his mind that the true reasoning for Sasuke to sit with him at this table rather than his usual table was because the Slytherin had grown tiresome of the constant attention that he received from the girls when he sat alone. Perhaps the raven haired boy thought that he would be left alone if he were to be accompanied by someone else.

"Heh," Naruto chuckled to himself, "it's never seemed to bother you before," he pointed out; earning himself a quizzical glance from Sasuke.

* * *

 

The school was soon full of excitement and chatter again as the final matches of the Hogwarts Inter House Quidditch Cup commenced.

The Ravenclaw team had flattened the Hufflepuffs with two hundred points to one hundred and ten during their match at the end of November. Naruto had remembered the tension and seemingly harsh game play during the match between the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams at the beginning if November and had been surprised to see a completely different atmosphere and a much more relaxed match between the green glad players and the Ravenclaws at the end of February - leaving the Ravenclaws with another victory of one hundred and ninety points to ninety.

The following match had resulted in the Gryffindors triumphantly celebrating their second successful match of the school year as they beat the Hufflepuffs by a landslide of one hundred and sixty points to eighty.

"So does this mean the Hufflepuffs have lost the cup?" Naruto asked as he mentally tallied the win: lose ratio for each house group and watching Hana dismount her broom to join Ayame - the Hufflepuff captain - in an embrace while patting each other on the back. “Are they joint last with Slytherin?"

"They definitely can't win the cup now," Kiba grinned confidently.

“They still have another match against the Slytherins," Bill pointed out, "but they would need at least one hundred and fifty points to take Gryffindor out of second place and one hundred and eighty to take first place," Bill counted the points on fingers, "and that's without even considering the final match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."

"I always thought the scoring system depended on how many matches each house won," Naruto blinked at Kiba and Bill in confusion, "I thought that because we beat Slytherin, we were in first place and they were in second place and when Ravenclaw beat Slytherin too, Ravenclaw became second place and Slytherin became third place while we remained first. Do you get what I mean?"

"Kind of," Bill frowned, "but that could get really confusing."

"You have to pay attention to the points," Kiba explained to the blond, "the total points from each match decide the winning house group, so at the moment Slytherin and Hufflepuff have no chance - unless they really drag their match out, but that's a stupid idea."

"It's still possible though," Shikamaru's voice made the three Gryffindors give a startled jump.

"Shikamaru!" Bill stared around at the Ravenclaw in bewilderment. "When did you get there?"

"I've been here the whole time, thanks for noticing me guys," Shikamaru grumbled, "anyway, both the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs know where they stand in regards to points and they're not stupid," the Ravenclaw climbed down from the bench behind the Gryffindor trio to sit beside Bill, "in fact, the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs are closer than you'd think. As cunning as they are, the Slytherins are likely to be more lenient towards the Hufflepuffs than they are towards any other house group - so long as they're still guaranteed a victory, I expect - but I don't doubt that they have some sort of truce."

"You're looking into this too much," Kiba pouted irritably at Shikamaru, "there's no way that the Hufflepuffs would work together with the Slytherins on anything."

"We'll see about that during the next match," Shikamaru muttered, "besides, it'll still be the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw match that decides the winner of the Quidditch Cup, Bill's already pointed out that the margin of points it already to big to even consider the possibility of Slytherin or Hufflepuff taking the Cup."

"I thought you weren't interested in Quidditch," Naruto cocked his head at Shikamaru.

"I'll admit that I find the game bothersome - but it's worth watching," Shikamaru shrugged, "beats sitting up in the castle on my own, anyway."

To their astonishment, Shikamaru's prediction came true. The match between the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins was a rather calm affair with no foul play at all in comparison to the other Quidditch matches that Naruto and his friends had seen so far. Although the match had been dragged out for somewhere between forty five minute to an hour, the two teams were only able to rally enough points to temporarily move the Hufflepuffs up to second place before they were forced to draw their game to an end with the Hufflepuff Seeker catching the Snitch but the Slytherin team winning with one hundred and seventy points.

"At least we've beaten Slytherin - no matter what happens in our next match," Kiba gave a sigh of relief.  
Naruto couldn't help but feel sorry for the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams - every time he saw any of the Quidditch players in the school's corridors, they looked exhausted but still smiled and waved as their peers cheered and clapped in support - or, in some cases, jeered and called names.

The blond had often caught Hana Inuzuka desperately trying to juggle her homework and studying between Quidditch practise, classes and mealtimes when he spent many evenings and break times in the Library with a stubbornly quiet Sasuke - who he had made an unspoken agreement with to meet up in the Library and work together in silence; much to Naruto's displeasure.

It soon became a habit of the young Gryffindor's to occasionally watch over Hana until she eventually fall asleep on top of her open book - Naruto would then stop Sasuke before they left the Library together for dinner to gently wake the seventh year girl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning of the final match dawned. The Great Hall erupted with applause each time any members if the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch team crossed the threshold. Some waved enthusiastically and pumped their fists in the air in encouragement. Other - including Hana and the Ravenclaw Captain; Naruto couldn't remember his name - looked pale with dark rings under their eyes but still gave their supporters the brightest smile they could muster nonetheless.

"Go Hana!"

"Beat them, Lofthouse!"

"Go Ravens!"

"Gryffindor for Victory!"

"Brain over brawn!"

Banners of red or blue were waved and more yells of support were called throughout breakfast while many students clapped Hana and her teammates on the shoulder or ruffled their hair and wished them good luck as they left the Great Hall for the stands if the stadium.

"Is she okay?" Bill asked in an undertone; frowning and nodding towards Hana. "She looks like she's going to be sick."

"She's fine," Kiba waved Bill's comment away, "just a little nervous - eat something, Hana! You'll need your strength," Kiba urged his sister as he piled more toast and sausages onto Hana's plate.

As soon as she had finished eating - or rather playing with her food - Hana finally rose from the Gryffindor Table while the rest of her team followed suit; causing the hall to erupt into a final round of applause as Hana led the others out of the Great Hall.

"It's all a bit dramatic, isn't it?" A familiar voice asked as a pinked haired girl donning a blue and bronze scarf sank into the empty seat beside Naruto. "They look like they're walking out to their execution, don't they?" The Ravenclaw giggled as she helped herself to some toast.

"Sakura," Naruto grinned in greeting; taking in the blue raven painted on the girl's face.

"Oh, Ino did it for me,” Sakura explained; motioning at the blue raven, "do you like it?"

"Yeah, it looks great," Naruto nodded earnestly.

"Oi! Stop fraternising with the enemy!" Kiba shot at Naruto.

"She's not an enemy," Naruto replied; slightly taken aback.

"She's rooting for the Ravenclaws!" Kiba counter argued with a playful grin.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Naruto's ears pounded with the sound of shrieking and whistling - and even what sounded like the beating of a drum was just audible above the noise. Chants of 'Go, go Gryffindor' battled against the opposing calls of 'Go Ravens, bare your claws' as banners, flags and scarves were brandished in a sea of blue and red. Naruto was amazed to see that the crowd was much rowdier than they had been during the tense match between Gryffindor and Slytherin - especially when he considered how relaxed the matches against the other house groups had been.

"Even all of the teachers are here!" Sakura - who had decided to accompany Naruto and his friend two friends to the Quidditch stadium - pointed towards the teachers' podium and gave a low whistle.

Naruto gave a small chuckle as he watched Professor McGonagall remove two small tomes from Kakashi's possession while giving the reluctant white haired man a stern glare over the top of her spectacles that she usually reserved so her students. A few paces away from Kakashi and Professor McGonagall, Naruto spotted his Astronomy teacher; Professor Yūhi - a young woman with long, dark, untamed hair and unnaturally red coloured eyes (Naruto had often assumed that the woman had changed the colour of her eyes using some sort of charm or transfiguration spell). The Astronomy teacher was often seen wearing a short skirted dress - which appeared to be fashioned out of bandages - with a single red sleeve opposed to the long robes that many teachers were usually seen wearing. Professor Yūhi was sitting beside a man who Naruto recognised, but did not know. Although he was sitting down, Naruto could tell the man was fairly tall. He had short, black hair that was ruffled and had a matching beard. From where he was sitting, Naruto could see Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout sitting in deep conversation with Professor Trelawney - Hana had pointed her out to Naruto and his friends during dinner one evening after commenting about how unusual it was to see the woman outside of her classroom. Naruto was surprised to see that Professor Binns and a few of the other ghosts had left the castle to watch the Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor Quidditch match - he was even more surprised at the fact that he had been able to spot the translucent figures in the brilliant sunlight.

"Almost all of the teachers are here," Bill corrected the pink haired girl as he counted the teachers.

"Huh?" Naruto squinted towards the teachers again. "Who's missing?"

"I can't see Professor Snape anywhere," Bill told the blond as he scanned the stands again.

"He's probably feeling a bit sour because Slytherin have already lost the cup," Kiba pointed out with a small shrug, "besides, I don't really think that he's the type of guy to enjoy Quidditch."

"Nearly the whole school is here, maybe he chose to sit with the students and you just can't see him," Sakura suggested.

"Yeah right," Kiba gave a snort of laughter, "Professor Snape hates the students."

"I don't think Professor Orochimaru is here either," Bill frowned.

At Bill's last statement, Naruto automatically searched the stadium and quickly found that he too could not find the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, but he didn't have much time to dwell on the matter as Sakura gave him a small nudge and motioned towards the centre of the pitch - where the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams were now gathered - and Kakashi started his commentary; under the strict supervision of Professor McGonagall.

" -teams in the final match of the Hogwarts Inter House Quidditch Tournament. For the Ravenclaw team, we have Bradley Lofthouse as team captain and Chaser along with -"

Kakashi's commentary was blocked out by a new wave of enthusiastic cheers and chants - Naruto gave a startled jump as the pink haired girl sitting beside him leaped to her feet to cheer for her house group.

"- and finally Tadashi Kubo playing as the Ravenclaw Seeker," Naruto caught the final name as the students in the stands began to settle down again, "Hana Inuzuka is playing her final match as Gryffindor's captain and Chaser today -"

The Gryffindor supporters drowned out Kakashi's voice again as they whistled, clapped and - in some cases - pumped their fists into the air while making unintelligible noises. Naruto, Kiba and Bill jumped to their feet and waved at the Gryffindor team while they shouted their encouragement along with their fellow peers.

"- as Gryffindor Seeker," Kakashi had finished introducing the two teams while Gai crossed the pitch; carrying a large trunk under his arm.

Gai spared a few moments to give Hana and Bradley his usual lecture about rivalry and the springtime of youth - not that there was much point to Gai's speech as his words were lost in the onslaught of applause and yelling - before he finally let the two captains shake hands, mount their broomsticks and kick off from the ground.

"And so the match begins!" Kakashi announced as Gai released four balls from the trunk. "Ravenclaw takes immediate possession of the Quaffle. Lofthouse, Yoshimura, Ao, Yoshimura, Ao, Lofthouse - Gryffindor intercepts - Inuzuka, Foster; good dodge! Passes back to Inuzuka, Chapman, Fost- Ravenclaw in possession. Ao, Lofthouse, Yoshimura, Ao -" The game was already moving at a very rapid pace; Kakashi only had enough time to call out a few very minor details before the Quaffle quickly switched hands again.

Naruto was struggling to keep his eyes on the Quaffle - let alone watch out for either of the troublesome Bludgers or the Golden Snitch. He was relieved to see that Sakura, Bill, Kiba and many others around him were also having a tough time to keep up with the match.

"Makes you wish that you brought a pair of Omnioculars, doesn't it?" Sakura joked as she flashed a grin at Naruto.

"Y- yeah," Naruto returned the smile and nodded - despite the fact that he didn't have a clue what Omnioculars were.

"Yoshimura is within reach of the goalposts," Kakashi informed the stadium while many waited with bated breaths, "Yamada saves! Gryffindor have the Quaffle -"

Kakashi's narration was once again rendered inaudible as the red clad supporters started their chants of Go, go Gryffindor once more while the Ravenclaw enthusiasts let out a collective groan in disappointment.

"- with Ravenclaw; Ao, Lofthouse; who easily dodges a Bludger, passes to - Gryffindor interception. Chapman passes to Foster, Foster to Inu- nope, Ravenclaw have the Quaffle again. Ao to Lofthouse, back to Ao who throws the Quaffle to Yoshimura, a reverse pass to Lofthouse back to Ao who's in the scoring zone - she shoots -"

Naruto held his breath - and was fairly certain that he felt everyone else around himself do the same - as the Quaffle left the Ravenclaw Chaser's hand and brushed passed Yamada's fingertips through the goal hoop.

"YES!" Sakura shouted as she bounced happily in her seat and pumped her fist into the air while blue and bronze emblazoned scarves and banners were waved in victory and the stands erupted into a tremendous racket.

"Ten points to Ravenclaw!" Kakashi's voice proclaimed; although the white haired man could barely be heard. "Gryffindor in possession; Inuzuka- ouch!"  
The stadium collectively winced as a Bludger collided painfully with Hana's elbow; forcing her to drop the Quaffle. "Ao catches the Quaffle and passes to Loft- oh? Inuzuka's calling for a time out."

Murmurs echoed around the stands as both the Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor teams returned to the ground and huddled around their respective captains.

"I- is she okay?" Sakura asked as she and Naruto peered over the edge of the stands to watch as Hana and her team mates examined her arm.

"I think she's broken it," Naruto grimaced; he saw Hana flinch and wince violently as she tried to bend and move her arm, "don't they have a backup Chaser to take her place?" He shot his question at his brunet friend.

"Hana's too stubborn for that," a small smirk played on Kiba's lips as he studied his older sister, "especially as this is her last match."

Conversations stirred between the students as they waited for a verdict. Professor Gai ran between the two teams to relay information between the captains or signalling to Kakashi in a strange sign language - that only the two men seemed to understand. Naruto even saw Professor Yūhi lean over to cast a worrisome glance towards Hana's group. Mere minutes later, the two captains met Gai in the centre of the pitch while the rest of their teams mounted their broomstick once more. After a quick discussion, Gai signalled to Kakashi one last time while the players regained their positions in the air.

"Looks like the match will continue!" Kakashi's voice regained the audience's attention.

"She's going to keep playing?" Bill gaped at Hana in disbelief.

"Is she mad?" Sakura was staring at the Gryffindor captain too.

"That's it, Hana!" Kiba called out over the confused murmurs. "A little bit of pain never hurt anyone, right?"

"What possible thought went through your mind to let you believe that your statement made any sense?" Bill muttered more to himself than to his brunette friend.

"Never give up, Hana!" Naruto joined Kiba's yelling.

"The match continues with Ravenclaw in possession," Kakashi's voice issued again, "Lofthouse passes to Yoshimura, reverse pass to Ao, Ao passes back to Y- intercepted by Foster again. Gryffindor in possession. Foster to Chapman, reverse pass to Inuzuka - good catch."

Kiba gave a sigh of relief as Hana removed her the hand from the handle of the broomstick with her uninjured arm and caught the Quaffle one handed before quickly throwing it towards Chapman again.

"Chapman enters the scoring zone - the Quaffle is saved by Grantham," Kakashi continued while the divided supporters clapped or groaned, "Ravenclaw in possession. Lofthouse, Yoshimura, back to Lofthouse and then to Yoshimura again - Yoshimura swerves past both Bludgers! Passes to Ao, Lofthouse - Lofthouse is readying himself to score... he scores!"

Blue and Bronze waved again and more of the Ravenclaw chants were sung.

"Another ten points to Ravenclaw! Gryffindor will need at least sixty points to gain the upper hand now," Kakashi declared after quickly calculating the current scores in his head, "Inuzuka has the Quaffle - she dodges both Ao and Lofthouse - passes to Foster. Foster to Chapman and back to Foster again. Foster reverse passes to Inuzuka... Inuzuka approaches the goal hoops... she shoots... and she scores! Bad luck, Grantham," Kakashi chuckled, "ten points to Gryffindor! Making the score twenty: ten to the Ravenclaw team."

For a while, Kakashi couldn't be heard while the stands competed for noise - Naruto squinted at the white haired commentator to see if he could at least lip read a little bit of what the man was saying before remembering that Kakashi wore that blasted bandanna; the blond wasn't even sure that Kakashi had even bother to continue talking over the applause and jeers. Naruto instead concentrated his efforts on watching over the Quaffle as closely as he could; he was sure that many of his peers around him had missed two goals that were earned by the Gryffindor team in the chaos of the many arguments that had begun among the students along with the overwhelming shouts and singing. Even Kiba had started an argument with a boy wearing shaded spectacles - who Naruto was sure that he had seen before, but couldn't put his finger on where he had seen the boy before. In any case, the boy with the tinted glasses seemed to be more level headed than Kiba and even kept his cool demeanour when Kiba had begun to raise his voice.

Naruto clapped his hands over his ears as almost everyone around him rose to their feet in celebration or to yell their complaints towards the players on the pitch.

The stadium finally quietened down enough for Naruto to hear Kakashi's account of the game again - though he was surprised that he hadn't been rendered deaf by Kiba's constantly yelling in his ear or at least been knocked unconscious by Sakura and Bill; he had to dodge the pair each time they beat their fists in the air or jumped up from their seats excitedly.

"Who knew that watching could be just as dangerous as playing?" Naruto mumbled to himself; flinching as both Sakura and Bill tensed.

"- points to Ravenclaw," Kakashi had simply continued as though nothing had happened, "the score is now at a draw with thirty points to each house. Yoshimura intercepts Foster; Ravenclaw have the- oh! Yoshimura has been hit by a Bludger!"

Naruto and his friends gave a collective gasp as the Bludger collided with the Ravenclaw's abdomen; forcing the Chaser to drop the Quaffle.

"Foul!" A few voices echoed angrily. "Foul!"

"Is it a foul?" Naruto frowned as he tilted his head to one side and surveyed Yoshimura with interest; who was cradling her stomach.

"No,” the boy with sunglasses shook his head at Naruto, "she had the Quaffle - there are no rules against it."

"Damn right, it's not a foul!" Kiba growled in a low tone. "Otherwise those Ravenclaws will owe us a foul for Hana's arm!"

"You're still going to lose," the other boy shot at Kiba.

"Shut up, specs," Kiba barked back furiously, "our bet still stands! Don't underestimate the Gryffindors!"

"Your bet?" Bill asked slowly; quirked one of his eyebrows at the brunet while Naruto and Sakura leaned closer to listen in curiously.  
Kiba's face and ears turned a violent shade of red as he glanced around at his friends while the other boy gave a smug grin.

"He was giving it all bark and no bite in the Great Hall over breakfast last week, so I cornered him in the corridors and we agreed to a little wager," the other boy informed Naruto, Sakura and Bill, "it's not too late to back out now if you're not feeling as confident," he added to Kiba.

"Like hell!" Kiba shot a glare at the boy with the sunglasses before raising his voice to shout towards the pitch. "COME ON, GRYFFINDOR!"

"How much did you guys bet each other, Shino?" Sakura asked the boy while Kiba was preoccupied with his yelling.

"One Galleon and ten Sickles," the boy replied while Sakura tutted and rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you guys a bit young to be betting?" Bill gave Kiba and the boy named Shino an incredulous stare.

"Shino?" Naruto cocked his head at the boy wearing the sunglasses before turning back towards Sakura. "Do you know this guy?"

"He's in our year group, Naruto." Sakura informed the blond Gryffindor.

"He is?" Naruto whispered frantically before turning again to stare blankly at Shino.

"He's in Ravenclaw," Sakura prompted the blond in an equally quiet voice, "surely you've seen him around the school?"

"I don't share any classes with you Ravenclaws, remember?" Naruto reminded the pink haired witch.

"You should still make an effort to get to know your peers, Naruto Uzumaki," Shino commented in a rather stiff voice; causing Naruto to jump slightly, "even if you do not share your classes with them."

"Hah, you were listening in," Naruto muttered to himself with a nervous laugh.

"Looks like you will be paying up soon!" Kiba nudged Shino and the ribs and pointed smugly towards the players on the pitch; drawing his friends' attention back towards the game at hand.

Suoh was racing around the edge of the pitch - close to the ground - with the Ravenclaw Seeker trailing just behind him. Many of the watching students - and even some of the teachers - rose to their feet to get a better view of the two Seekers. Two Bludgers were sent in Suoh's direction; forcing the Gryffindor Seeker to swerve and collide with Tadashi Kubo - thus making the pair lose sight of the Golden Snitch.

"Looks like a false alarm," Kakashi notified everyone in an amusement over the many disappointed moans and grumbles, "Ao with the Quaffle, passes to Yohsi- intercepted by Inuzuka who passes to Foster -"

"What did I miss?" A familiar voice issued from behind Naruto; making Naruto, Sakura and Bill jump in surprise - Kiba and Bill were oblivious about the newcomers arrival as they had started another argument.

"Sasuke!" Sakura turned in her seat to face the newcomer with a bright grin on her face - she eagerly moved along the bench to offer the ebony haired Slytherin a place to sit in between Naruto and herself; to which Naruto wasn't too please about as he had rather enjoyed sitting beside the pretty Ravenclaw, "come and sit with us," she patted the bench beside her to draw Sasuke attention to her invitation.

"Where have you been?" Naruto shot at Sasuke; he didn't bother to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Busy," Sasuke replied dismissively without so much as a glance in Naruto's direction while he accepted the seat that Sakura had offered to him.

"You've missed half of the match, y'know," Naruto pointed out in an equally frosty tone.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted to show that he had acknowledged Naruto's statement.

"What were you so busy with?" Naruto pressed the young Uchiha in a lowered voice. "And don't give me that homework crap again, because I asked Kakashi and he said that we don't study catra in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"You mean chakra," Sasuke automatically corrected the blond Gryffindor.

"Whatever," Naruto muttered, "why are you even researching it?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Is it for Professor Orochimaru?" Naruto threw a sideways glance at the Slytherin. "I've seen you talking to him in the corridors before."

"He's a teacher; why would talking to him be any reason to be suspicious?" Sasuke rolled his eyes irritably. "You're just getting paranoid and jumping to conclusions."

"Paranoid?" Naruto gave a short laugh. "You're the one who's secretive all the time?"

"Says the loser who hides behind his books in the Library."

"I don't hide," Naruto replied through gritted teeth; feeling rather irked, "I just find it hard to concentrate when nosy bastards like you are constantly watching me."

"You wouldn't be struggling to concentrate so much if you wasn't such a moron."

The pair finally met each other's gaze as they shot a glare at each other before they both turned their attentions towards the Quidditch match in a haughty silence while Sakura - who had overheard the conversation between the two boys - cast the pair a concerned glance.

"- Inuzuka throws the Quaffle to Chapman, back to Inuzuka, to Fo- intercepted by Ao, Ravenclaw in possession. Ao passes to Lofthouse, reverse pass to Yoshimura - who dodges Inuzuka and a Bludger - passes to Lofthouse, back to Yoshimura and another pass to Lofthouse; he shoots... and scores!" Kakashi announced. "Ten points to Ravenclaw, making the score sixty: forty to the Ravenclaw team. Gryffindor have the Quaffle - Chapman drop passes to Foster, Inuzuka, back to Foster, Chapman, Inuzuka, Chapman, Inuzuka, Fost- ow! Foster's hit by a Bludger and Yoshimura takes the Quaffle."

Red flags and scarves were brandished angrily as shouts of protest issued from the Gryffindor supporters.

"Yoshimura passes to Lofthouse, who pa- huh, it looks like Kubo has spotted the Snitch again." Kakashi drew the attention of the audience and the remaining players on the pitch towards the Ravenclaw Seeker.

Suoh quickly turned his broomstick around and leaned flat against the handle; accelerating at an amazing pace to fall behind Kubo - who had already outstretched his hand towards the small winged ball.

"No, no, no!" Naruto saw Kiba rise to his feet out of the corner of his eye. "Come on, Suoh!" Kiba urged quietly while Shino chuckled to himself.

The Golden Snitch was snatched out of the air by the Ravenclaw Seeker and the stands exploded with cheers, whistles and enthusiastic clapping while the stadium was lost in a sea of blue and bronze.

"Damn it!" Kiba swore loudly; sinking back into his seat with a seething glare at the Ravenclaw team.

"Serves you right," Bill shook his friend at the brunette.

Sakura joined the rest of the Ravenclaw supporters who had ran onto the pitch in celebration while Bradley Lofthouse proudly lifted the Quidditch Cup above his head and shook hands with Hana Inuzuka.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

"I can't believe that we lost!" Kiba grumbled irritably; kicking a stone as he pouted.

He and Bill accompanied each other back up to the castle while Naruto and Sasuke trailed behind them (to which Kiba did not seem too pleased about; Sasuke did not notice Kiba's disgruntled glares as he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts) - leaving Sakura and Shino behind to celebrate with the rest of the Ravenclaws on the Quidditch pitch; the pink haired witch had momentarily returned to the stands where she had sat with Naruto and his friends to drag Sasuke onto the pitch with her, but he had ducked out of her reach and declined her offer while claiming that he had made plans with Naruto prior to the Quidditch match.

Now that they were away from the crowded stadium, Sasuke tugged on the sleeve of Naruto's jacket; forcing the blond to slow his pace down to let Kiba and Bill speed further ahead while they enthused about the Quidditch match.

"Can I ask you something?" Sasuke lowered his voice and walked closer to Naruto so that only the blond Gryffindor could hear him.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked at Sasuke; feeling rather taken aback; although he didn't know much about the Slytherin, Naruto was fairly confident that he knew Sasuke well enough to know that this behaviour was incredibly out of character for the other boy. The blond studied Sasuke's face; the Slytherin had maintained his thoughtful expression - although it was now mingled with discomfort - and Naruto was sure he could hear a bit of reluctance in the Uchiha's tone, “of course you can."

"What's your opinion of Orochimaru?"

Naruto gave Sasuke another calculating stare.

"Just answer the question, dobe," Sasuke huffed impatiently as Naruto's stare caught his eye.

"I don't know," the Gryffindor replied with a small sigh; finally looking away from the Uchiha and instead focusing on the backs of Kiba and Bill.

"You don't know?"

"It's like you said earlier, he's just a teacher - but I don't think I trust him," Naruto shrugged.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked as he arched a curious eyebrow at the blond.

"He just seems really shady," Naruto cast his mind back to his detention with Professor Orochimaru, "he seems friendly enough - but my gut is telling me there's something not right about him."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto with an interested expression.

"What's with the questions anyway?" Naruto shot at the ebony haired boy. "I thought you liked Professor Orochimaru and you told me earlier that I was just being paranoid," The blond pointed out  
irritably.

"Hn," Sasuke hummed to himself with an amused smirk, "I can't say that I particularly like the man."

"Do you like anyone?" Naruto muttered under his breath.

Sasuke quickly returned to his serious demeanour, "meet me in the Library later - I want to talk to you."

"I'm starting to think I live in the Library," Naruto gave a resigned sigh, "why are we meeting in the Library?"

"We're always in the Library together - no one will feel the need to eavesdrop on us."

"Why can't we talk now? There's too many people around for us to be overheard at the moment." Naruto pointed out; feeling as though he hadn't quite understood what Sasuke was saying anyway.

"I just want to check something first," Sasuke replied in a vague tone - the ebony haired boy then picked up his pace and sped ahead of Naruto.

"What's he in a hurry for?" Kiba raised an eyebrow at Sasuke as he strode past Kiba and Bill.

"He said that he forgot to send an owl to his parents," Naruto lied without really knowing why.

* * *

 

Naruto sat as his usual desk in the Library pretending to read through his copy of The Standard Book Spells with a quill poised over a piece of parchment; ready to take notes just in case Madam Pince decided to come snooping in his direction.

The blond Gryffindor constantly glanced between his watch and the Library doors; his irritation rising while he watched as a few students entered the Library - including Kabuto Yakushi; the boy who Naruto recognised as the Head Boy - he had scolded Naruto for fighting with the two boys who had bullied Hinata Hyūga before Christmas. Naruto assumed that the other boys who entered the Library with the familiar seventh year were friends of Kabuto's. Even Sakura trailed through the doors a little behind Kabuto's group; she still had the blue Raven - that her friend; Ino, had drawn on for her - painted on her cheek.

"Naruto," she beamed happily at the blond as she joined him at his table; she was still ecstatic from her house group's victory on the Quidditch Pitch, "I thought I'd find you here."

"Really?" Naruto felt his mood lift as he realised that the pretty Ravenclaw had been looking for him rather than Sasuke.

"You spend a lot of time in here; you're not trying to become an Animagus again, are you?" She said in a teasing tone.

"No, I'm just doing a little homework," Naruto muttered; he felt the heat rose to his face as he remembered the lie that he had told Sakura in an attempt to impress the girl, "was you looking for me?" He asked; quickly changing the subject.

"Sasuke said that he was with you earlier," Sakura frowned as she gazed about the Library in search for the absent Slytherin.

Naruto felt his mood drop again."I should've known." He thought glumly.

"He said that he had to do something first," Naruto told the pink haired witch, "that jerk," he added in an undertone; relieved to see that Sakura didn't hear him.

Sakura shook her head slightly before focusing her attention back towards the Gryffindor, "what homework are you doing? Maybe I can help you," she offered with a smile.

"Uh… its spell work," Naruto sighed heavily, "I'm struggling a bit," he confessed in a small voice as he hid his returning blush.

"What spell?"

"All of them," Naruto muttered with a grimace, "I think I've got the Levitation Charm down to a T now though!" He added brightly.

"Naruto, surely you know the basic sp-" Sakura cut herself off mid sentence as she saw Naruto wince at her disbelieving tone - the young Ravenclaw stood in thought for a few moments. "I have an idea," she told the blond, "you make a list of the spells you want to master and leave the rest to me," She gave Naruto another smile.

"What are you going to do?" Naruto asked curiously. "Do you know about a potion or something that will help me master spells faster?" He added excitedly.

"Don't be silly," Sakura shook her head at the blond, "I'm going to teach you myself! We're going to use good old fashioned hard work - now hurry up and write that list!"

"R-really?" Naruto stared at Sakura in awe before he poured over his parchment; scratching away with his quill as fast as he could. "Thanks Sakura - you're the best! If there's anyway I can repay you, just name it, okay?" He added while he gave the girl a grateful smile.

"Shhh!" Madam Pince glare at Naruto and Sakura from behind a bookshelf; making the two avert their eyes and duck their heads in silence until the librarian skulked away.

"Every time," Naruto scowled in the same direction that Madam Pince had disappeared in before turning his attention back towards the Ravenclaw, "can you do me one more favour?"

"What's that?" Sakura blinked at Naruto with a curious expression.

"Just don't tell Sasuke, okay?"

"Don't tell me what?" Sasuke's voice intervened; making Naruto jump and turn in his chair to face the boy standing behind him.

"Uh… we was just… um…" Naruto stuttered as a million excuses whirled around his head.

"Naruto didn't want me to tell you, but it looks like you found us out," Sakura shrugged indifferently, "Naruto was planning to pull a prank and frame the Slytherins,” Sakura finished lamely while Naruto stared at her with a dumbfounded expression and Sasuke quirked a sceptical eyebrow.

"S-Sakura!" Naruto gawked the Ravenclaw and quickly decided to play along. "I- I told you not to tell him!"

" _Sorry, I'm not good at lying,_ " She mouthed back at him while Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," Sasuke tutted dismissively, "as if you'd have the brains to pull off something like that anyway."

"Watch it," Naruto growled at the Slytherin.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura curiously before meeting Naruto's gaze.

_"I didn't know she was going to come too,"_ Naruto tried to convey his message with just his facial expression and by meeting Sasuke's dark eyes while Sakura wasn't looking; he hoped that the other boy understood what he was trying to say.

"It makes no difference to me," Sasuke replied aloud as he took the chair beside Naruto's.

"What doesn't, Sasuke?" Sakura enquired with a baffled expression.

Sasuke merely shook his head in response to Sakura's question; earning himself and Naruto quizzical glances from the pink haired girl.

"After the Quidditch match you said that you wanted to check something," Naruto reminded Sasuke in a slow voice; tucking his list of spells away from Sasuke's prying eyes.

"I was going through a list of essays that Orochimaru had asked me to do," Sasuke told Naruto while Sakura listened in with a confused look upon her face - the ebony haired Slytherin pulled out a piece of folded parchment from the pocket of his black robes and handed it to Naruto and Sakura.

"Unicorn blood, Dragon Blood, Byakugan, Gnome Saliva, Acromantula Venom, Basilisk Venom-?" Naruto wrinkled his nose as he read the list aloud - and mispronouncing most of the words that Sasuke had written down.

"-Thestral Tail Hair, Phoenix Blood, Doxy Venom, Chakra and Sharingan," Sakura finished reading through the rest of the list.

"The Sharingan is the most recent essay he's asked for - I haven't given him anything about it," Sasuke mutter to himself darkly.

"This sounds like a shopping list to me," Naruto frowned at the Ravenclaw and the Slytherin while Sakura examined the list more attentively, "I haven't even heard of most of it - maybe he's making a potion?"

"I wouldn't suggest using any of those in a potion," Sasuke snorted.

"This doesn't make sense,” Sakura furrowed her brow in frustration, "why would he get you to research Unicorn, Dragon and Phoenix blood along with something as mediocre as Gnome Saliva and Doxy Venom? They have no beneficial qualities - well, none that can be proved anyway."

"That's what I told him," Sasuke murmured; giving Sakura a curt nod.

The pink girl turned her attention back toward the parchment in her hands, "Dragon blood only has twelve uses - the most valuable of which I can think of is as a potion strengthener. Unicorn blood can be used to prolong your life, but it's not an ideal method."

"Why not?" Naruto asked; cocking his head at Sakura.

"It's been said that you'll lead a cursed life if you drink Unicorn blood," Sakura explained, "it's a non-tradable item by law of the Ministry of Magic."

"Phoenix blood is similar to Unicorn blood; it's supposed to render the drinker imperishable," Sasuke added.

"-Thestral hair is supposed to be really powerful - but it's hard to master," Sakura continued down the list, "and the Byakugan, the Sharingan and Chakra are inter-linked; there's so many uses for them that it's impossible to pinpoint what Professor Orochimaru wanted in particular."

"What about the Acromantula and Basilisk venom?" Naruto enquired.

"Acromantula venom is highly valuable whereas Basilisk venom is corrosive and deadly," Sakura replied easily, "this confuses the list even more - almost none of these tie in together."

"Why did you even agree to write these essays?" Naruto shot at the Slytherin.

"I have my own reasons," Sasuke replied coldly; shooting a quick glare at Naruto for even asking the question, "anyway, I'm sure we can conclude this down to two things, Orochimaru's after power or immortality."

"Or both," Naruto pointed out.

"W-wait!" Sakura gave the two boys a wide eyed stare. "This is a teacher we're talking about! Besides, it's impossible," Sakura grimaced at Naruto and Sasuke, "no one can be immortal - even with something like an Elixir of Life or Unicorn blood; you would still be dependable on those substances for the rest of your life and I don't think Professor Orochimaru would be up for that kind of commitment - I can't really say anything about the Phoenix blood because there's not enough hard evidence behind that one. Besides, Professor Orochimaru seems to be in perfect health, why would he even be thinking about prolonging his life at the moment?"

The trio fell into silence as each were drawn deep within their own thoughts.

"Maybe we could… sneak into his office?" Naruto suggest tentatively.

"What?" Sakura and Sasuke gaped at Naruto on unison.

"Well… say Professor Orochimaru is hiding something shifty - we can't prove it without evidence, can we?" The Gryffindor cast his eyes away from Sasuke and Sakura. "All we have to do is find Sasuke's essays and show another teacher - if there's anything suspicious going on, surely the other teacher would notice it and tell Professor Dumbledore," Naruto explained as he continued to look anywhere but at his two friends, "if there's nothing to worry about, we'll sneak back into Professor Orochimaru's office and put the papers back. Would that put your mind at ease, Sakura?"

"I- I guess, but who do we tell?" Sakura asked. "It has to be someone we can trust."

"What about McGonagall?" Sasuke suggest.

Naruto shuddered as he pictured the stern witch's piercing stare, "maybe we should choose someone who's more approachable," he suddenly met Sasuke's gaze, "what about Kakashi?"

"Kakashi?" Sakura gave the pair a confused look.

"Professor Hatake," Naruto chirped happily, "he's quite laid back and he's not as stern as the other teachers."

"Kakashi would be ideal - but I still think McGonagall is the better option," Sasuke replied flatly - the Uchiha then scowled to himself for a moment as he swallowed his pride, "I… I'm going to need your help," he finally confessed.

"Heh, so you aren't the know-it-all big shot that you always pretend to be," Naruto grinned wickedly at the Slytherin; which didn't falter, even under Sasuke's icy glare, "looks like you can't do everything on you own, huh?"

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded the blond angrily, before changing her demeanour to a calm and comforting one. "Of course we'll help you, Sasuke."

"So what is it you want us to do?" Naruto asked; instantly dropping his cocky attitude and adopting a serious expression.

"I think that I should be the one to sneak into his office; I know exactly what it is we're looking for after all," Sasuke gave a simple shrug, "but first I'll need something to lure him as far away from his office as possible and then I'll need one of you two to stand guard outside of his office."

"I've got some wet start fireworks!" Naruto piped up brightly with a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes. "I got them in Diagon Alley in the summer and I've been looking for an opportunity to set them off all year! I can get Bill and Kiba to help me set them off."

"And I can get Professor Orochimaru," Sakura nodded slowly with a contemplative expression, "I'll convince him to come and see to Naruto's fireworks."

"I don't care what you do, so long as Orochimaru isn't near his office." Sasuke replied.

"So when are we doing this?" Naruto enquired enthusiastically.

"We'll need to create a distraction without getting caught, not being funny Naruto but I have a clean record where as you and Sasuke have a bit of a reputation," Sakura frowned slightly at the Gryffindor, "you more so than Sasuke - even Kiba Inuzuka and William Weasley have been dragged into your rumours and that's only because you guys hang around together."

"Wait - what rumours?" Naruto cocked his head in bemusement.

"Maybe you should set your fireworks off on the second floor just before dinner?" Sakura suggested; brushing Naruto's question to one side. "The rest of the school will be moving around the castle on their way to the Great Hall from the Library and we should be close to Professor Orochimaru's office - just make sure no one sees you setting the fireworks off," the Ravenclaw then turned her head slightly to address Sasuke, "you should probably wait here in the Library until you hear Naruto's fireworks, it should be quiet enough in here for you to hear them and if anything goes wrong, you can say you was in here the whole time. I'll wait for Naruto's first firework before I go to Professor Orochimaru's office."

"Dinner starts in twenty five minutes," Sasuke announced as he checked a small watch on his wrist, "this you've got enough time to get those fireworks and set them off before then?" He shot at Naruto.

"Heh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, there's nothing I can't do!" Naruto beamed confidently while Sasuke and Sakura shared a weary glance. 


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to miss a day of uploading yesterday due to being busy. 
> 
> Thank you for those of you who read, commented, subscribed, left kudos or bookmarked this fic - I really appreciate your support. 
> 
> As soon as chapter nineteen is up on AO3, I’ll start uploading Nine Tails Jinchūriki 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!   
> ~Fox

"Naruto!" Bill called out from the hearth rug as the blond tore through the common room; making Kiba - who was also sat on the hearth rug with a chessboard in between himself and Bill - give a startled jump. "We've got your exam timetable!"

"Hey!" Kiba shouted after Naruto; letting the chess piece in his hand slip out of his fingers. "What's with the rush?"

Kiba and Bill watched as their friend darted up the stair that led towards the boys' dormitory without a word.

"Was it something we said?" Kiba asked; giving the stairs a blank stare.

"Come on," Bill muttered; nudging Kiba as he rose to his feet and followed Naruto to the dormitory.

Kiba's gaze shifted between the stairs and the neglected game of chess he had been playing with Bill moments ago; he quickly moved a few of the chess pieces across the board and gave his work an accomplished nod before chasing after the blond and the redhead.

Kiba lingered behind Bill in the doorway of the dormitory and watched curiously - while sharing a few confused glance with the Weasley - as Naruto pulled his own trunk out from under his bed and rifled through the contents hurriedly.

"Aha!" Naruto beamed triumphantly as he finally retrieved one of the Wet Start Fireworks that he had bought in Diagonal Alley before the school year had started. "I've been looking forward to setting these off, I can't wait to see what they're like!"

"S-setting them off?" Bill gawked disbelievingly at Naruto before he shifted his gaze to the window in between Tobio and Naruto's bed. "But it's not even dark yet, you won't be able to see the fireworks in this light."

"And you'll get caught too easily if you run around setting off fireworks after dark," Kiba pointed out with a hint of unease in his voice, "Professor McGonagall has already given you a second warning, don't tell me that you forgot that?"

"We're not setting them off outside," Naruto grinned mischievously as he pulled more fireworks out of his trunk.

"We?" Kiba quirked an eyebrow at the blond.

"Here take these and hide behind the tapestry on the second floor," Naruto instructed as he bundled the fireworks into Kiba's arms and grabbed a jug of water from Anthony's bedside cabinet and another from the window sill next to Kiba's bed before he handed them to Bill, "I'll meet you there, okay?"

Without waiting for a response, Naruto ran out of the dormitory; leaving his two friends staring after him with bewildered expressions.

"Does he want us to help him set these off?" Bill asked slowly as he eyed the Wet Start Fireworks with a chary look upon his face.

"I would assume so," Kiba frowned.

Bill let out a low groan, "if we get caught, my mum is going to kill me."

* * *

 

Naruto took a slow walk down the Grand Staircase before turning though the wooden door that led to second floor corridor; he saw Sakura waiting for him near the portrait of a young woman - where she had pretended to drop her bag that was full of personal belonging and was now checking each item for any signs of damage and stowing them back inside her bag while tutting and muttering to herself furiously; Naruto couldn't help but to give the girl a small smile when her turquoise eyes flickered in his direction.

The Gryffindor gazed about himself to ensure that no one - other than Sakura - saw him pull back a tapestry and slip inside before he quickly concealed himself.

"Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Kiba asked as Naruto joined his two friends behind the tapestry.

"I will later," Naruto replied vague while he waved Kiba's question away, "give me a hand - Professor Orochimaru will be here soon."

"Professor Orochimaru?" Bill arched one of his eyebrows at the blond. "Are you trying to land yourself into a months worth of detentions?"

"Probably," Naruto shrugged nonchalantly as he examined the firework in his hand closely, "how do you ignite these?"

"You haven't thought this through very well, have you?" Kiba muttered in a somewhat abashed tone.

"They're wet start - so they'll probably explode almost instantly after touching the water," Bill answered Naruto wearily; placing the jug of water in front of the blond.

"Will I have enough time to throw it?" Naruto asked while he mentally weighed his chances of success.

"If you're quick enough," Kiba replied with a small shrug.

"I'm gonna have to be, aren't I?" Naruto chuckled as he plunged the end of the firework into the jug of water with one hand and swiftly ripped the tapestry open with the other; in one quick, fluid movement, Naruto launched the now soaked firework into a throng of passing students before he withdrew back into the hidden passageway and hid behind the tapestry once more.

"I think that might've been too much water," Kiba rolled his eyes, "now it probably won't ig-"

The brunette was cut off by a whizzing sound that was followed by a loud bang and a shriek. Naruto dipped another firework into the closest jug of water - making sure that he only brushed the surface of the liquid this time - and pulled the tapestry back once more while he signalled to Kiba and Bill to do the same. The three boys threw their fireworks in different directions; causing some of the students to run for cover while others stared about themselves in confusion as the rockets exploded and showered sparks over their heads. Naruto and his two friends continued to launch the Wet Start Fireworks into the throng of gathering students; swiftly causing alarm and irrationality through the now packed corridor.

A flash of pink rushed past the boys' hiding spot - which told Naruto that Sakura had already passed him in order to retrieve Professor Orochimaru; then he, Kiba and Bill could take their leave soon - hopefully before they were caught by another teacher.

"We're only attracting more students," Bill frowned as he snuck a glance into the corridor from their hiding spot, "I can't see any teachers."

"Wha-" Naruto felt a flurry of panic rise in his chest. "But Sakura -"

"Shh!" Kiba pressed a finger to his lips and he tried to listen over the sound of startled students and yet more exploding fireworks. "Can you two hear that?"

Naruto and Bill fell still and silent in order to focus their concentration; it wasn't long before a faint, malicious cackling reached their ears.

"It's getting closer," Naruto commented in a faint whisper before a small smirk began to play on the blond's lips.

"Run, little beasties! Run!" The familiar voice that issued from the corridor was followed by a loud crashing noise.

"We should get out of here," Naruto told the other two boys as he stuffed the few remaining fireworks into his school bag and beckoned at Kiba and Bill to follow him; he pulled the tapestry back one last time and joined the mass of students in the confusion of the poltergeist's arrival.

The three Gryffindors ducked as Peeves dismantled a suit of armour and threw the separated pieces in any direction that he could.

"Heads up!" Peeves warned a fourth year girl in taunting tone as the threw the helmet of the armour at her.

"I think it's safe to say that we can leave the rest to Peeves," Naruto told Kiba and Bill in an undertone; who nodded in agreement.

"Peeves!" Argus Filch - the wheezy old care taker of Hogwarts - shoved Naruto and Bill out of the way as he rushed towards the poltergeist; swiftly followed by his grey cat, Mrs Norris. "I'll have you out of the school this time! You've gone too far this time!"

Peeves dropped the bust of the armour on top of Mrs Norris - trapping her inside - before he then proceeded to bang on the sides of the armour's bust while teasing Mrs Norris; who could be heard yowling and hissing inside.

"I thought you said that Professor Orochimaru was going to be here," Bill commented as he surveyed the now crowded corridor.

"Sakura was supposed to get him," Naruto murmured more to himself than to Kiba and Bill; he searched the faces of the crowd.

"Sakura?" Bill gave Naruto a confused look. "You mean that Ravenclaw girl, right? What are you up to, Naruto?"

"No time, quick!" Kiba hissed as he grabbed the back of Naruto and Bill's jackets and pulled the pair towards the Grand Staircase. "Professor McGonagall's here! If she catches us with those fireworks, we're done for!"

"You guys go ahead," Naruto instructed his friends; giving his school bag to Bill, "I'm gonna go and find Sakura."

Naruto dodged in between the pressing students; avoiding Peeves, Professor McGonagall and Filch along the way. The blond finally detached himself from the crowd and jogged down the corridor towards the Library; knowing he would find Professor Orochimaru's office in that direction. The blond maintained his pace until his eyes fell upon a figure that was slumped against the stone wall just outside of Professor Orochimaru's office.

"Sakura?" Naruto called out; picking up his pace until he was sprinting towards the girl's form - he dropped to his knees beside the Ravenclaw witch; instantly noticing the pink hair that was strewn about on the floor and a discarded wand that was inches away from Sakura's finger tips. Naruto gave the pink haired girl a gentle shake. "Sakura? Sakura, can you hear me? Hey, wake up!"

A dull thud issued from somewhere behind the blond; making Naruto glance around himself curiously. The Gryffindor returned to his full height and cautiously approached the wooden door of Professor Orochimaru's office that stood ajar.

"Sa-Sasuke?" Naruto pushed the door open and he met another familiar figure inside the darkened room.

The blond stepped over the threshold and examined his surroundings.

The figure on the floor was definitely Sasuke - who was seemingly unconscious - the chair that was closest to Sasuke along with a many items that seemed to have been on Professor Orochimaru's desk had been knocked over - Naruto stooped down and picked up a dark coloured wand; he stood for a moment, twirling the instrument in his hand while he inspected it before he turned his attention back towards the office; there was parchment scattered around the room - Naruto carefully put the wand in Sasuke's robe pocket for safe keeping before he bent down and picked up the piece of parchment beneath his foot and briefly scanned the page.

"This is Sasuke's handwriting," Naruto concluded in a slow voice; recognising the word Chakra, "an inherited trai-"

"Mr Uzumaki,” Professor Orochimaru greeted the blond from the doorway.

"Professor!" Naruto quickly stuffed the parchment into the pocket of his orange jacket and spun on the spot to face the man. "I came to get some help," Naruto lied, "Peeves is wrecking havoc down the corridor and your office was the closest one I could think of…" Naruto heard his voice become quieter and quieter until he was merely muttering the last three words under Professor Orochimaru's gaze.

"Really?" One of Professor Orochimaru's infamous smiles crept onto his features; the man's silhouette against the light of the corridor made the experience seem more unnerving and surreal to Naruto. "That's interesting, I've just heard a similar story."

Naruto simply stared at the older man as a sudden sense of how vulnerable her was swooped over him, "I- I think Sasuke needs to go to the Hospital Wing; he looks like he's been seriously hurt, y'know," Naruto said as he pretended to check the Slytherin over - though he did notice a rather nasty cut on Sasuke's forehead, "and Sakura too."

"They might need medical a little attention," Professor Orochimaru agreed, but he didn't move from the threshold; he just tilted his head to one side and watched Naruto with interest instead.

"What happened to them?" Naruto shot at Professor Orochimaru in a hardened voice and with narrowed eyes; he had decided that playing the part of an innocent bystander was pointless with Professor Orochimaru's uncooperative attitude.

"They were too nosy," the man replied with a half hearted shrug as he stepped into the office and closed the door behind himself, "I was wondering how long it would be before young Sasuke became suspicious - I'm honestly surprised that it took him this long; even more so at the fact that he enlisted in the help of others," Professor Orochimaru smiled fondly at Sasuke, "I've been using him for my own personal research purposes, you see."

"You're talking about those extra assignments you've been giving him, aren't you?" Naruto glowered at the older man.

"He even told you," Professor Orochimaru arched an eyebrow at the Gryffindor.

Naruto swallowed hard and watched the wizard intently.

"I've dedicated most of my life into researching for a greater power - and every time, I came across the same answer," Professor Orochimaru began to explain as he picked the chair beside Sasuke up and offered it to Naruto; who refused to move anywhere that wasn't beside Sasuke's unconscious body, “an Elixir of Life."

"Elixir of Life?" Naruto asked sceptically while inwardly wondering why the man was confiding this information to him.

"After quite a few years of research, I wondered if there was something more reliable than the Elixir of Life - I don't want to rely on drinking potions and if I want to get hold of this elixir I would have to use or create a philosopher's stone."

"A philosopher's -" Naruto shook his head as his confusion deepened.

Professor Orochimaru simpered,  
"surely you've heard of it - there's only one known philosopher's stone in existence, but unfortunately it's been hidden away along with the research notes - recovering both the stone and the research would be far to troublesome and my intentions would become obvious straight away. I'm sure you'd understand if I said that I was in no position to make my own."

"Why would you even want this elixir?" Naruto arched one of his eyebrows at Professor Orochimaru.

"You never were top of the class," Professor Orochimaru chuckled to himself, "I want immortality."

"But… but Sakura said that immortality is impossi-"

Professor Orochimaru's laughter cut through Naruto's sentence.

"How naïve children are - there are plenty of ways to obtain immortality. The Elixir of Life, Horcruxes, Unicorn Blood and even taking another's body as a host - and that's just to list a few. I enlisted in the help of young Sasuke - he is the prodigy of his older brother, after all - and the Uchiha family hide many secrets; including that of their Sharingan. I asked the boy to complete a few extra assignments, to my understanding he has a bit of a rivalry with his older brother - so I told him that I could help him become a stronger wizard than Itachi if he put the work extra work in; it wasn't long before I noticed you," the older man slowly lifted his hand to point at Naruto.

"M-me?" Naruto stammered as he stared at the man while shock and discombobulation kept him rooted to the spot. "What have I got to do with any of this?"

"Immortality isn't my only goal - I want to become the most powerful wizard and shinobi in the history of our world," Professor Orochimaru declared loudly, "I noticed your chakras earlier in the year - I was worried that I wasn't the only one who noticed it and I didn't need the likes of Albus Dumbledore poking his old nose in," Professor Orochimaru spared a moment to survey the young Gryffindor with scrutiny, "I realised that your chakras become slightly unstable as you became more and more exposed to your magical inheritance."

"My chakras?" Naruto narrowed his eyes sceptically at the man. "What chakras?"

"You didn't notice?" I can't say that I'm not surprised," Professor Orochimaru gave another small shrug, "you come from a long line of Uzumaki's; a clan who were most renown for their strong life bonds and their abilities in fūinjutsu."

Naruto's eyes widened, "you know about my family?" He whispered in a barely audible tone.

"The Uzumaki clan once heralded from their own village; everyone born to the clan has a chakra stream - a form of life essence, if you will," Professor Orochimaru continued; unable to hear Naruto's question, "the clan's strong chakras made them eligible to become Jinchūriki."

"Eligible to be a what?" Naruto wrinkled his nose at the older wizard.

"It means that the clan were suitable to become the host of one of the nine tailed beasts with a higher success rate,” the man replied patiently, "I've learnt that it is possible to enhance magical spells with chakra - I've seen it with my own eyes, thanks to Tsunade Senju - but to do so is too draining on the human body and will often lead to serious injury or even death. That's why I also want to harness the power of a tailed beast - I want that expendable chakra."

"I still don't understand why you want me!" Naruto burst pressingly. "I might be an Uzumaki, but I've never had a family and I'm not a Jin-chewy-thingy! I don't even know what chakra or fūinjutsu is either!"

Professor Orochimaru gave Naruto another eerie smile as he tilted his head to one side and surveyed the blond again, “your chakras became so noticeably unstable - I was forced to place a Five Prong Seal on you," he continued as though Naruto hadn't spoken at all, "it was the only way I could be sure that no one else would intervene until I needed you, but that Kakashi Hatake seemed to be keeping an eye on me - particularly after Christmas - and I had to push my plans back for a while, at least until the air of suspicion cleared anyway. I was going to wait a little longer but, with you three snooping around, it looks like I'm going to have to act sooner than I had anticipated. It's a pity really," Professor Orochimaru smirked, "I was rather comfortable here at Hogwarts, but I was lucky to be tipped off about your little plan."

"You were tipped off?" Naruto asked; slowly reaching for his wand that was concealed in the waistband of his jumpsuit bottoms while he tried to remember every spell he knew in a panicked rush. "Who tipped you off?"

Professor Orochimaru simply ignored Naruto's question; taking a step closer to the blond instead - forcing Naruto raise his wand towards the older man instinctively.

"What's a kid like you going to do against a Legendary Sannin?" Orochimaru cackled.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto snarled; swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat.

Professor Orochimaru whipped out his own wand and aimed it at Naruto, "Petrificus Totalus!" The man twirled his wand in the air and watched gleefully as his spell rushed through the air at Naruto.

The blond quickly dodged; tripping over Sasuke's unconscious form - he tried to regain his balance, but hit the floor instead.

"I am going to take your tailed beast," Professor Orochimaru stood over the boy with a twisted grin and an ambitious gleam in his eyes; his wand was aimed between Naruto's eyes, "it is very likely that you will die after the extraction of the Kyuubi. Goodbye, Naruto Uzumaki."

The last thing Naruto saw before he lost consciousness was a bright flash and Orochimaru's contorted face.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Kiba and Bill tore up the stairs towards the seventh floor; accidentally colliding with a taller man with white hair who had his nose buried inside a small tome, causing the two Gryffindors to topple over - dropping Naruto's bag in the process.

"Ow! Hey watch it!" Kiba growled; rubbing a red mark on his forehead while Bill checked his elbows for any grazes.

"My apologies, but maybe you should slow down and look where you're going in future," the older man suggested as he eyed the two boys curiously; instantly spotting the Wet Start Fireworks that has slipped out of the bag - Kakashi picked one of the fireworks up and held it in front of Kiba and Bill's face, "I do hope that there aren't the fireworks that have caused a commotion on the second floor."

Kiba and Bill gulped guiltily.

"I think you two better start telling me what's going on," the white haired man sighed wearily.  
"We… we…" Kiba gave Bill an uncertain look.

"We've had these fireworks in our trunk since the start of the year," Bill lied in a small voice, "we just wanted to set them off as a prank."

Kakashi gave the boys a sceptical stare, "interesting," he hummed, "now tell me the truth."

"We were!" Kiba protested angrily.

"So why are you carrying Naruto Uzumaki's bag?" The white haired man enquired; holding up the bag in question and giving the two boys a patronising glare. "Where's Naruto?"

"He's still on the second floor - he said something about Professor Orochimaru and told us to leave before we got caught," Bill confessed hurriedly.

"But the fireworks were our idea!" Kiba added quickly.

Kakashi stood in thought for a moment while Kiba and Bill glanced at each other apprehensively with a dreaded feeling rising in their chests.

"Return to your Common Room and hide those fireworks," Kakashi instructed in a slow, thoughtful voice, "then you are to go to dinner, I will deal with you two later."

Without another word, Kakashi left the bewildered two boys on the staircase and hurried down towards the second floor; stowing his book away into his pocket in the process.

The white haired man easily dodged through the now dissipating throng of students - that were being directed away from the corridor by Professor McGonagall while Mr Filch was doting over his cat.

" _At least help will be close at hand_ ," the relieving thought ran through Kakashi's head as he watched Professor McGonagall inspect a burnt out firework.

He maintained a brisk pace until he reached Professor Orochimaru's office; where he found a young pink haired girl.

He checked the girl over and - after confirming that she was unconscious - decided that it would be best to leave the girl until he had dealt with the issue at hand.

Kakashi returned to his full height; grabbing his wand from the holster tied to his thigh before he quietly approached the door of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's office - Kakashi slowly reached for the door handle and pulled on it.

"Locked," Kakashi froze as he heard a dull thud inside the room - he swiftly aimed his wand at the locked of the door, "Alohamora!"

The door swung open and Kakashi eyes instantly fell upon the two unconscious forms who he recognised to be Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha before swiftly finding the third figure that belonged to the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; who was rifling through piles of parchment on his desk while cursing under his breath.

"Orochimaru!" Kakashi called out sharply; raising his wand towards the other man. "Stop what you're doing now," he warned the dark haired man in a low voice.

Professor Orochimaru slowly placed the pieces of parchment that were in his hands on his desk and lifted his gaze towards Kakashi; his lips frequently twitched - almost into a smile - but the dark haired man tried to maintain his deadpan expression.

"Kakashi Hatake," Professor Orochimaru greeted the other man in a pleasant tone - that was forced - and with a small nod.

"Place your wand on the desk and step away from the desk," Kakashi commanded in a threatening voice; twiddling the wand in his hand to draw Professor Orochimaru's attention towards the instrument.

"As you wish," Professor Orochimaru smirked as he retrieved his wand from his sleeve, held it up for Kakashi to see and carefully placed it on the wooden desk before stepping to one side with his hands in the air.

Kakashi gave the other man a hard glare while he prepared his hands,  
" _boar, dog, rooster, monkey, ram,_ " Kakashi mentally listed the animals in his head as he quickly cast a series of hand seals, "summoning jutsu!" Kakashi called aloud; in a plume of smoke, eight dogs appeared and instantly surrounded themselves around Professor Orochimaru - growling and baring their teeth - while Kakashi stooped down to examine Naruto and Sasuke closely. "Pakkun, I want you to get Professor Dumbledore. Bisuke, Professor McGonagall is near the tapestry on the second floor - I'll need her too."

"Right," a small, brown pug nodded once before he and another brown dog left the office.

Kakashi turned his focus back towards the two unconscious boys; his eye was draw towards Sasuke's neck, where he could see two puncture marks above the Slytherin's collar.

"That looks like -" Kakashi's murmur was cut off by a dull thud that was followed by a yelp from one of Kakashi's summoned dogs - the white haired man quickly turned back towards Professor Orochimaru; springing up to his full height with his wand ready once more.

Shiba was curled up into a ball on the floor; shaking and whining as blood began to seep from his hind leg while a snake - with a Kusanagi-like blade producing from its mouth - was reeling itself back into Professor Orochimaru's mouth.

The other wizard had used the moment of confusion to snatch his own wand back off of the desk.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Professor Orochimaru aimed the spell at Kakashi.

"Protego!" Kakashi countered; dodging away from the two boys while Urushi and Guruko positioned themselves in a protective stance over Naruto and Sasuke. "Expelliarmus!" A jet of red shot out of the end of Kakashi's wand and raced towards Professor Orochimaru; but the man easily dodged.

"Levicorpus!" Professor Orochimaru shot at Kakashi.

"Protego!" Kakashi counted Professor Orochimaru's spell easily with a flick of his wand again before he aimed another spell at the other man. "Stupefy!" The second spell hit Professor Orochimaru squarely in the chest; winding the man and knocking him off of his feet and into the wall behind him. "Incarcerous!" Kakashi cast the new spell quickly; watching in satisfaction as a thick rope burst from the end of his wand and bound the struggling Orochimaru. "That ought to hold you," Kakashi glared at the other man.

Professor Orochimaru's dark eyes met Kakashi's for a fraction of a second before the man disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Kakashi pivoted on the spot wildly in search for the man.

"Expulso!" Professor Orochimaru's voice - that issued from behind Kakashi - called out.

The white haired man pivoted just in time to see the spell skim past his face - inches from hitting his cheek - before the spell came into contact with the stone wall behind him; blasting a large hole in the wall and making pieces of the stone shower down inside the office. Kakashi's eye quickly found Professor Orochimaru's disgruntled expression. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher quickly stowed his wand away and began to cast a series of hand seals.

"He's using jutsu now?" Kakashi pulled his bandana away from his right eye to reveal a vertical scar that started just above his eyebrow; running over his eyelid where the scarring finished beneath Kakashi's eye. The eye itself had a red iris with three black tomoe patterns.

  
After returning his wand to the holster on his thigh and positioning himself in front of the two unconscious boys; Kakashi followed Professor Orochimaru's lead and began to cast his own seals; forming the hand gestures for Ox with his right hand and Tiger with his left before slamming both palms on the office floor and forming a large wall consisting entirely of earth - a series of dull thuds told Kakashi that the other man's jutsu had collided with his defensive wall; he momentarily glanced over his shoulder to ensure that Naruto and Sasuke were safe.

"Orochimaru, Kakashi! Why is there an unconscious student in the corridor?" Professor McGonagall's voice came as the woman's silhouette filled the doorway of the office with Bisuke growling beside her heels - the witch gave an astonished gasp as he eyed fell upon the scene within the office, "what is the meaning of this?"

Professor Orochimaru let out a low, irritable grunt and aimed his next attack at Professor McGonagall - the dark haired man puffed out his chest and brought his hand up to his mouth before he released a vast gust of air.

Professor McGonagall was quick to react; she easily deflected Professor Orochimaru's attack with her wand before returning a string of nonverbal spells at the dark haired man while Kakashi armed himself with his wand once more, ducked out from behind the wall and joined in the brawl between Professor Orochimaru and Professor McGonagall.

In the confusion of fiery spells, Professor Orochimaru dropped a small ball shaped tool on the floor - which instantly set off a dense smokescreen.

"Stupefy!" Professor McGonagall blindly aimed her wand as she felt something slither past her ankle; she briefly saw the outline of a snake as her spell his the stone floor. "Kakashi, he's transfigured himself into a snake," she warned the white haired man as she darted back into the corridor in pursuit of the snake.

"Dammit!" Kakashi swore under his breath; waving the lingering smoke away from his face and following Professor McGonagall - he surveyed the corridor carefully; straining his eyes for any sign of movement, "it looks like we lost him."

"What's going on?" A new voice issued from behind the two teachers.

Kakashi and Professor McGonagall whirled around on the spot to find that Pakkun had returned with the wizened headmaster; Professor Dumbledore was frowning quizzically at Kakashi, Professor McGonagall, and Sakura Haruno's slumped form.

"Professor Dumbledore," Kakashi and Professor McGonagall greeted the headmaster in unison.

"I believe an explanation is in order," Professor Dumbledore stated with the same curious expression.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head nervously as his eyes scanned the corridor behind him one last time, "I was passing through the corridor when I came upon this young lady," he gestured towards the pink haired Ravenclaw., "I tried to approach Professor Orochimaru about the matter, but when I entered the office there were two more unconscious students - Professor Orochimaru seemed to be the one behind this so I sent my ninken for Professor McGonagall and yourself," Kakashi explained in a calm voice.

"When I arrived the two were duelling," Professor McGonagall joined in, "Orochimaru turned against me too, he's transfigured himself into a snake and escaped."

"How long ago?" Professor Dumbledore asked sharply.

"Just before you arrived," Kakashi replied quickly.

"Kakashi, use your ninken to trace Orochimaru's scent - he can't have gone very far," Professor Dumbledore instructed the white haired man.

"Yes professor," Kakashi gave a deep nod and returned to the office; grabbing a shredded piece of clothing that Professor Orochimaru had accidentally left behind, "Pakkun, Bisuke, Bull, Ūhei, Guruko, Urushi, Akino," Kakashi beckoned his dogs, "Come," Kakashi left the office once again with several ninken in tow; only sparing a momentary glance at Naruto, Sasuke and the remaining ninken; Shiba - who was still curled against the floor.

Kakashi held the cloth out in his hand and lowered himself to the same level as his ninken; letting the dogs sniff the tattered fabric before they began to scout around the corridor in search of an identical scent.

"When I entered the office Orochimaru was looking at the parchments on his desk," Kakashi informed Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, "maybe that will help us find out what he's up to until one of these students wake up," Kakashi eyed the Ravenclaw curiously.

"Minerva is going to retrieve Poppy and escort these three to the Hospital Wing," Professor Dumbledore informed Kakashi; noticing the worrisome look in the young teacher's eyes, "and I hear that Miss Inuzuka is an excellent veterinarian - I will ask for her to see to Shiba for you."

"Right - thanks," Kakashi gave Professor Dumbledore a grateful nod before he took off down the corridor after the ninken, "I'll send for you if I find anything," he called back over his shoulder pulled his bandana back over his scarred eye.

* * *

 

Kakashi heaved a sigh as his gaze fell upon mountains that surrounded the small, picturesque village of Hogsmeade.

"The trail goes cold a little way out of the village," Pakkun told Kakashi in a glum voice, "all traces of his scent just disappeared."

"I'll be honest in saying that I'm surprised that he got this far," Kakashi mused more to himself, "thanks anyway, Pakkun."

The small pug disappeared - along with the rest of Kakashi's ninken - in a plume of smoke; leaving the white haired man to ponder alone for a moment.

"Kakashi," Professor McGonagall greeted the man as she came to a halt beside him, "I wondered how far you had gone."

"We lost the trail," Kakashi told the witch, "it just stopped dead; looks like Orochimaru wanted to be well outside of Hogwarts' boundaries when he Disapparated."

"I highly doubt that we'll catch him now,” Professor McGonagall grimaced, "I'm fairly certain that he's an unregistered Animagus and neither of us saw what he looked like after he had transfigured himself into a snake."

"So now what?" Kakashi asked; quirking a curious eyebrow at the woman.

"It's in the Ministry's hands now - Professor Dumbledore sent an owl to Millicent Bagnold as soon as you left,” Professor McGonagall informed Kakashi, "have you any ideas about how he got out of the school grounds?"

"There's a passage beneath the Whomping Willow in the school grounds," Kakashi confided in a lowered tone; shuddering at the thought of the reckless tree, "I didn't know about it myself until earlier, but it leads to the Shrieking Shack."

"I see," Professor McGonagall nodded slowly as she pivoted on the spot and began to walk up the cobbled street of Hogsmeade Village; towards Hogwarts castle, while Kakashi followed in her footsteps.

"How are Naruto, Sasuke and their friend?" Kakashi asked; falling into step beside Professor McGonagall.

"All safe," she replied, "Madam Pomfrey is tending to their injuries now."

"Are any of them awa-"

"No."

"I'd like to check something then."

* * *

 

Naruto blinked repeatedly as a bright light hit his eyes; making them water and sting while he wondered where he was.

His first thoughts were instantly of Birkenhead Orphanage and his bedroom; dread and disappointment swelled inside of him - he had had a rather pleasant dream of a place where he had felt more accepted. He tried to lift a hand to his face so that he could rub his eyes, but quickly found that his body felt as heavy as lead and he struggled to raise either of his arms off of his bed more than a few inches.

He heard the faint sound of voices and began to panic; he could still see the bright light through his eyelids - so he was sure that he had overslept - if Mrs Birkenhead caught him, he was sure that she'd use this as an excuse to punish him - even if he did try to explain that he couldn't move - but his mind instantly pushed any thoughts of the orphanage away as a familiar, whispering voice stirred his attention.

"I think he's waking up!" The voice belonged to a girl.

"About time," came another voice - this one belonged to a boy, "he's been out of it for ages."

"You weren't much better - you only woke up two days ago," the first voice pointed out.

"Hn," the second voice grunted irritably.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's brain finally pinpointed the owners of the two voices. "And Sakura?"

Naruto turned his head slightly and saw a blurry figure with pink hair slowly shift into focus, "Sakura?" He called aloud. "Where are we?"

"The Hospital Wing," Sakura replied with a soothing smile.

Naruto slowly turned his head from side to side; taking in his surroundings - he was lying in a hospital bed with Sakura and Sasuke standing at either side of his bed. Sasuke seemed paler than usual; he had dark circles under his eyes - which didn't help his sickly complexion. Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to be her normal self, except for;

"Your hair," Naruto frowned at the girl; noticing that her long pink hair had been replaced with shoulder length locks.

"Oh this?" Sakura ran her hand through her hair and fiddled with the tips a little sadly. "I had to cut it with a Severing Charm - it was getting in the way anyway, so I guess I can live with this."

Naruto remembered seeing the Ravenclaw slumped against a stone wall with strands of pink hair surrounding her and her wand lying on the floor inches from her limp hand, "you were unconscious," Naruto said slowly, "what happened?"

"I was distracting Professor Orochimaru, remember?" Sakura jogged the blond's memory. "You set off those fireworks on the second floor corridor while I ran to Professor Orochimaru's office to tell him about it. Well, we were heading towards your fireworks when he said that he had left his wand in his office. I told him that it was an emergency but he wasn't listening; then he must of lost his temper with me - I was being rather insistent, after all," Sakura grimaced, "he grabbed me by my hair and told me that I shouldn't have been such a pest and well-" Sakura ran her hand through he hair again, "- I freed myself with the Severing Charm and the last thing I remember was that he was suddenly behind me and he hit me."

"He hit you?" Naruto seethed as he felt anger bubble up inside his chest.

"He was probably aiming for one of your pressure points to knock you out," Sasuke informed the Ravenclaw in a quiet voice.

"So what happened to you?" Naruto rounded on Sasuke. "When I arrived, you were unconscious too, y'know."

"Same thing," Sasuke replied stiffly; Naruto was sure that he detected a lie but didn't press the Uchiha for a more definitive answer - he surveyed the Slytherin closely instead, but found that (as usual) the other boy was almost impossible to read.

"How long have we been in here?" Naruto asked; wincing slightly as he sat up and motioned around the Hospital Wing.

"A little over a week," Sakura replied.

"A- a week?" Naruto gawked at Sasuke and Sakura. "But that means I missed the end of year exams!"

"You're not the only one," Sakura huffed, "we missed them too."

"I would've been able to take them if it wasn't for Madam Pomfrey," Sasuke muttered; glaring at the matron's office door.

"No you don't understand!" Naruto clutched at his own hair in frustration. "Professor McGonagall is going to kill me! She told me that I wouldn't be able to continue into our second year if I didn't get acceptable grades," Naruto hung his head in disappointment.

"She can't do that!" Sakura stated as she frowned at Naruto. "You were unconscious!"

"I'm sure that they would make an allowance due to the situation," Sasuke gave a small shrug and perched himself on the edge of Naruto's hospital bed, "Dumbledore said that he was going to make some arrangements for us."

"Dumbledore?" Naruto cocked his head at Sasuke. "Professor Dumbledore?"

"He came to visit us while you were unconscious," Sakura informed the blond, "he said that it was fair for us to know what had happened with Professor Orochimaru."

"Hah," Naruto perked up at the name and gave Sasuke and Sakura a questioning stare, "where is he? What's happening?"

"Calm down," Sasuke tutted irritably, “he got away,” he added in a quieter voice; turning his back towards the other two occupants of the Hospital Wing.

"H-he got away?" Naruto burst out in a disbelieving tone. "How?"

"Professor Hatake turned up just as Professor Orochimaru attacked you - he was alone and he was worried about our wellbeing, but he tried to duel Professor Orochimaru anyway, but Professor Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Sannin and by the time Professor McGonagall turned up, well-" Sakura cut off herself off; hoping that this had explained everything.

"I remember him mentioning something about Sannin before he attacked me," Naruto muttered thoughtfully; more to himself than the other two, "but I've met a Legendary Sannin before and they're nothing alike."

Sasuke and Sakura quickly turned to look at Naruto with interested expressions on their faces.

"He spoke to you?" Sasuke asked in a shocked tone.

"Can you remember what he said?" Sakura pressed the Gryffindor.

"Um…" Naruto sat in thought for a few moments; trying to shift through his hazy memories, "not really,” the blond confessed, "he said something about some sort of war and then something about a Jin-chewy-key," Naruto informed his friends - he then turned to the Ravenclaw and the Slytherin with a puzzled look upon his face. "have you ever heard of a Jin-chewy-key?"

"No," Sakura and Sasuke replied; frowning and shaking their heads in unison.

"Did Orochimaru tell you anything else?" Sasuke urged.

"Only that he was looking for immorality," Naruto confided in his friends, "he mentioned something about the Philosopher's Stone and Horcruxes, but I can't remember much else - we should tell Professor Dumbledore about this," Naruto said quickly; throwing the blankets off of himself and swinging his legs over the side of the bed so that he was sitting beside Sasuke, "it might help them fi-"

"Naruto, slow down!" Sakura rushed around the side of the bed and pushed the Gryffindor back onto his pillows. "You've only just regained your consciousness, you need to rest!" The pink haired girl lectured Naruto.

"Besides, Dumbledore already knows," Sasuke informed Naruto; surveying the blond with a quirked eyebrow, "Orochimaru left in a hurry so he left some of his research behind - Dumbledore found it and figured out what he was up to."

"So how are they gonna catch him?" Naruto asked.

"Dunno," Sasuke shrugged.

"I'm sure that the Ministry of Magic will investigate it," Sakura gave Naruto another comforting smile.

"Sasuke," An unfamiliar voice reached their ears as the doors of the Hospital Wing opened and an older boy wearing Slytherin robes crossed over the threshold.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked in an undertone.

Sakura shook her head slowly in response.

The newcomer seemed to be much older than Naruto and his two friends; he had long, black hair that was tied back into a ponytail - leaving his bangs to frame his face. He had dark eyes with deep tear-troughs beneath them and a warm smile playing on his lips.

"Last time I came to visit I was told that you were still unconscious," the newcomer informed Sasuke.

"I didn't see him visit," Sakura whispered quietly to herself, "I've been here everyday."

"Itachi," Sasuke inclined his head at the older boy.

Itachi gave a small laugh, "why so formal, little brother? Surely you're still not upset with me?"

"Little brother?" Naruto stared between the Sasuke and Itachi.

"Wait, Itachi Uchiha?" Realisation dawned on Sakura's face. "I've heard that name before, you're the genius prodigy of the Uchiha family!" Sakura's gaze shifted to Sasuke's displeased face. "I had no idea that you two were brothers."

"I wouldn't say that I'm a genius prodigy," Itachi replied modestly before turning his attention back towards his younger brother, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said in a dismissively frosty tone, "it was nothing - just leave me alone."

Itachi gave Sasuke a surveying stare for a moment; before deciding that it would be unwise to anger the younger Uchiha or probe the boy at this moment in time.

"As you wish," Itachi finally spoke before poking Sasuke on the forehead with his index and middle fingers and pivoting on the spot to leave the Hospital Wing, "you and I are flesh and blood - I'm always going to be there for you, even if it's only as an obstacle for you to overcome. Even if you do hate me. That's what big brothers are for." Itachi flashed an encouraging smile over his shoulder - which only made Sasuke's scowl deepen - before he departed; closing the doors behind himself.

"What was that about?" Naruto stared blankly at Sasuke.

"Just mind your own business!" Sasuke snapped at Naruto before returning his glare to the wall.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Professor McGonagall dropped the charred, cardboard remains of what was unmistakably one of the fireworks that Naruto and his two accomplices has set of the previous week into Naruto's lap, "- of course, the situation wasn't helped by the ignition of these Wet Start Fireworks."

Naruto gulped guiltily while Sasuke and Sakura leaned in to examine the burnt remains with innocently curious expressions.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips as she caught sight of Naruto's sheepish expression, "Peeves was caught igniting more of these fireworks in the Dungeons after the ruckus that he had caused in the Second Floor Corridor - it would seem that Peeves took them from Mr Filch's stores of confiscated items," the witch continued in a nonchalant tone - which made Naruto suspect that Professor McGonagall knew more than she was currently showing, "in any case, I must stress that if the three of you have any concerns in future, you are to report to a teacher rather than try to take matters into your own hands."

"Yes professor,” Naruto and Sakura replied in unison while Sasuke barely managed a curt nod.

"I should also tell you that your parents have been informed of your foolish actions," Professor McGonagall added in an afterthought.

"Parents?" Naruto cocked his head at Professor McGonagall.

"Considering your circumstance, Mr Uzumaki, I have been in contact with Iruka Umino," Professor McGonagall added.

"Circumstance?" Sakura muttered to herself while she eyed Naruto curiously.

"I believe that is everything," Professor McGonagall announced thoughtfully as she made the charred firework vanish with a flick of her wand.

"Sorry professor, but what about our end of year exams?" Sakura enquired in a timid voice; earning herself a betrayed glare from Naruto.

"Ah yes,” Professor McGonagall nodded knowingly to herself as she retrieved three pieces of parchment from the pocket of her robes, "Professor Dumbledore and myself have agreed that the three of you will report to my classroom on the Ground Floor and sit your exams," Professor McGonagall explained as she handed the three students the slips of parchment, "these will be the dates and times of your exams - may I suggest that you use any spare time that your have to study and prepare yourselves," Naruto had a feeling that Professor McGonagall's warning was subtly aimed at himself rather than Sasuke and Sakura, "anymore questions?" The older witch finally asked.

After a moment's pause Naruto finally opened his mouth and voiced the concern that he, Sasuke and Sakura had been voicing between themselves whenever they were alone or out of earshot of others, “what's happening about Orochimaru?" The blond enquired in a hurried voice as Professor McGonagall's gaze locked with his.

Professor McGonagall remained silent and pursed her lips as she contemplated her answer, "the Minister for Magic has been informed," the woman chose her words delicately and lowered her voice with a glance at Madam Pomfrey's office door, "as to what will happen now is in the hands of the Minister and the Auror Department; but I wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru has left the country by now - you have no need to worry anymore," Professor McGonagall gave the trio a small, but warm smile before she excused herself, turned on her heel and departed.

"Th- that was it?" Naruto stared disbelievingly at the doors of the Hospital Wing as they closed behind the Transfiguration teacher. "No detentions, no punishment - she didn't even take any house points away from us! Just a measly letter to Iruka? Hah! I knew it, deep down she's as soft as a kitten, y'know!" Naruto chuckled to himself.

"That's still a letter home to our parents though," Sakura grimaced.

"Come on, we don't leave Hogwarts for another few weeks - surely your parents would've forgotten about it by then," Naruto reassured the girl with a bright grin, "and Professor McGonagall doesn't even think the fireworks were us."

"I bet she did - I'm sure that she just pretended that she didn't know," the pink haired Ravenclaw heaved a sigh and frowned to herself, "there goes my clean reputation."

Naruto gave a small chuckle. "Sorry Sakura. Hey, what's your problem?" The blond shot at Sasuke; noticing the bemused expression upon the Slytherin's face.

"What did you do with the fireworks that you didn't set off?" Sasuke asked; knitting his eyebrows together.

"I already told you," Naruto replied; rolling his eyes impatiently at the ebony haired boy, "I put them back in my bag which I then gave to Kiba and Bill."

"So how did Peeves get hold of those fireworks?"

"How am I supposed to know? Maybe he actually broke into Filch's stores," Naruto shrugged.

"Or maybe someone gave them to him," Another voice suggested in a sly tone.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura turned back towards the doors that Professor McGonagall had disappeared through to see a tall figure sidle into the room.

"Professor Hatake?" Sakura stared at the man in astonishment.

"Miss Haruno, I presume," the white haired man smiled pleasantly at Sakura, "just call me Kakashi."

"Kakashi, did you give Peeves those fireworks?" Sakura asked hesitantly; she didn't want to accuse the young professor, but it was the only conclusion she could draw from Kakashi's statement.

"My memory is a little hazy," Kakashi hummed to himself in a somewhat furtive voice, "let's see, I caught Mr Weasley and Mr Inuzuka with some Wet Start Fireworks in Mr Uzumaki's school bag on the Grand Staircase - I told Mr Weasley and Mr Inuzuka to return to their common room and hide the bag before they went to the Great Hall for dinner. After the commotion with Orochimaru, I found Mr Weasley and Mr Inuzuka, accompanied them back to their Common Room, confiscated the bag and told the boys that they were not to speak of the fireworks to anyone," Kakashi held out the bag in question; letting Naruto take it out of his hands, "I didn't see the point in dragging Mr Weasley and Mr Inuzuka into trouble when I had something much more pressing to attend to - I must've left the bag unattended in my office and I imagine Peeves was looking for more ink pots when he found them - I mean, I happened to tell Gai about the fireworks when I passed Peeves in the corridor, but I doubt he’d go all the way to my office for a few measly fireworks,” Kakashi flashed the trio a mischievous grin before he gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully, "but Peeves won't tell Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore where he got them from, so I guess we'll never know for sure."

* * *

 

"Come on!" Kiba grumbled irritably as he rolled his eyes at the redheaded boy and Akamaru gave a small whine in his arms. "We're gonna be late for the feast, you can sort that out later!"

"I'll just be… a few more… seconds," Bill dug further into his trunk; spilling its contents on the floor, "aha!" Bill grinned as he held up a camera for Kiba and Naruto to see.

"What's that for?" Naruto asked curiously.

"To take pictures, dumbass," Kiba murmured under his breath.

"I know that!" Naruto snapped at the brunette irritably before returning to his calm demeanour as he turned his attention back to Bill, "but why do you want a camera?"

"I promised my little brothers that I would get some pictures, but I completely forgot," Bill ruffled his hair sheepishly - the red head rose to his feet and joined his two friends; holding the camera awkwardly in his hands so that he could take a photograph of himself with his two friends, "smile!" Bill instructed and he clicked the shutter on top of his camera while Naruto and Kiba complied with his command.

"Okay, you got your picture - are you happy now?" Kiba moaned.

"Yep!" Bill chimed happily; pulling a piece of photographic paper from the bottom of his camera and waving it in the air.

"Can I borrow your camera?" Naruto asked; suddenly struck by an idea.

* * *

 

Naruto darted down the Marble Staircase ahead of Bill and Kiba as his eyes found a pink head bobbing in a sea of students.

"I'll catch up with you in a minute," Naruto called back to Bill and Kiba over his shoulder; giving Bill's camera a little wave as though this answered any questions that the two boys might have.

Naruto dodged around the students until he found himself closer to the pink haired girl, "Sakura!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto?" Sakura whirled around with her friend; Ino Yamamaka, until both girls came face to face with the blond Gryffindor. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to take a picture of us," Naruto told the girl; feeling the heat rise to his face as he averted his eyes from Sakura's, "just so I can remember our first year together," he added quickly.

"Oh okay," Sakura positioned herself so that she was standing beside the blond Gryffindor.

"I'll take the picture for you,” Ino offered; holding her hand out for the camera.

"Thanks," Naruto grinned as he gave the Slytherin girl Bill's camera.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed with a wide beam - the Ravenclaw disappeared from Naruto's side for a few moments before returning with the boy in question, "come Sasuke, we're taking a picture."

"Why?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the camera in Ino's hands.

"Naruto wants to remember our first year," Sakura replied.

"I didn't want him in the picture, y'know." Naruto groaned to himself.

"I don't want to be in your pic-" Sasuke started to protest.

"Nonsense!" Sakura tutted; pulling the ebony haired boy closer to herself and Naruto.

"Say cheese!" Ino announced in a rather impatient tone as she clicked the shutter button. "There - all done," Ino smiled sweetly as she waved the photograph in the air, "if you ask someone nicely, they might be able to duplicate it for you."

"Thanks Ino," Sakura grinned; taking the photo and examining it while Naruto and Sasuke peered over her shoulder.

Sakura had managed to pose in time; she was standing between the two boys with a large smile on her face while Naruto and Sasuke were glaring at each other with disgruntled expressions - behind the trio with what was undoubtedly a grin on his face beneath the bandana was;

"Kakashi?" Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura pivoted on the spot, but saw no sign on the white haired man behind them.

"How the hell did he do that?" Naruto frowned.

"Never mind that now - the feast is starting," Ino reminded Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura as she gave the camera back to the Gryffindor, "do you want to sit with me Sasuke? We're both Slytherins after all," the blonde girl added with a smug smirk in Sakura's direction.

"Hn,” Sasuke grunted as he turned back towards the Great Hall and proceeded to walk ahead on his own.

"Later, billboard brow," Ino poked her tongue out at Sakura as she followed Sasuke.

"Ino pig!" Sakura shot back at the Slytherin.

"Billboard brow and Ino pig?" Naruto raised a questioning eyebrow at the Ravenclaw. "I thought you two were supposed to be best friends or something."

"It's a long story,” Sakura shrugged and handed Naruto the photograph, "Ino said something about getting that duplicated."

"I think I know someone who can do it," Naruto told Sakura as his eyes fell on Hana and Ayame, "I'll ask her later and give you a copy if you like,” he followed Sakura into the Great Hall and bade her goodbye before he located and joined Kiba and Bill at the Gryffindor table while Sakura sat with her friends at the Ravenclaw table.

"Thanks," Naruto muttered to Bill as he slid the camera across the table.

The last few students quickly found their seats at their respective house tables while others ceased their conversations as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet and cleared his throat.

"And so ends another year," Professor Dumbledore beamed widely at everyone I the Great Hall, "but before we can enjoy our delectable feast - the House Cup needs to be awarded!" Professor Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled gleefully. "In fourth place; Gryffindor, with three hundred and seventy one points -"

"Fourth place?" Kiba thudded his fist against the table angrily while Akamaru have a low growl and Naruto swore loudly; earning himself a few reproachful glares from the nearby older students. "I demand a recount!"

"Shh!" Bill hushed the blond and the brunet whilst glancing about himself apologetically.

"- third place; Slytherin, with three hundred and eighty points-" Professor Dumbledore continued his announcement; seemingly oblivious to the scattered outbursts that ensued.

"Nine points!" Kiba hit the table again as he gawked at the wizened headmaster disbelievingly. "They beat us by nine points!"

"At least they didn't win the house cup,” Bill pointed out wearily.

The Slytherins seemed gleeful in their small triumph and they began to quietly jeer and pull faces at the Gryffindor Table; who retaliated with mouthed insults and rude gestures. Though these actions were quickly stopped after Professor McGonagall gave both the red clad students and the green clad students a warning glare over the top of her spectacles.

"- second place; Hufflepuff, with four hundred and fifteen points and so in first place with four hundred and twenty six points is Ravenclaw!" Professor Dumbledore finished his announcement joyfully as the students at the Ravenclaw Table jumped to their feet and cheered delightedly.

Naruto spotted a familiar brunette; who had decided to remain seated and yawned rather than join his housemates in celebrating their victory. Naruto found a grin playing on his lips as the familiar boy's eyes met his own.

" _What a drag._ " Shikamaru mouthed and smirked playfully at the blond as a fellow Ravenclaw clapped him on the shoulder.

Naruto gave a startled jump as the flags above the house tables flapped and entwined until they resembled the bronze eagle of Ravenclaw on top of a navy blue backdrop with blue and bronze hangings to decorate the Great Hall.

"Let the feast begin!" Professor Dumbledore called out over the Ravenclaws as he regained his seat.

* * *

 

Naruto had forgotten about the results of his End of Year exams - in fact, in light of the End of Year feast, he had even forgotten about his impending doom that was the summer holidays and his return to Birkenhead Orphanage; even Professor McGonagall's glares and stern lectured seemed preferable to Naruto.

So it was with a heavy heart that Naruto packed the rest of his belongings into his trunk and gave his dormitory one last glance before he grabbed the glass tank that held Gamakichi and descended to the Common Room; where Kiba and Bill were waiting for him.

"Took your time," Bill muttered under his breath.

"I just had to grab a few last things," Naruto replied with a sheepish grin.

"Are you ready?" Kiba asked; carefully perching Akamaru on top of his head and grabbing his trunk with his free hand.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Naruto muttered to himself.

He followed Kiba and Bill out of the portrait holes and through the corridors; deciding to take short cuts through tapestries and portraits where they could.

The trio descended the Marble Staircase and joined the rest of the students in the Entrance Hall; where they slowly filed out of the large oak doors to board the school carriages that were waiting to take the students back to the train station.

"Aha! Mr Inuzuka, Mr Uzumaki and Mr Weasley," Professor McGonagall held her arm out to stop the boys in their tracks as she began to rifle through a rather large stack of parchment envelopes in her other arm, "these are your End of Year exam results," she informed the boys as she handed them an envelope each with their names scrawled on the front in green ink; Naruto could have sworn that he saw Professor McGonagall smile as she gave him his envelope, "and your End of Year notice,” she added; giving the trio a slip of parchment each.

"End of Year notice?" Naruto cocked his head at the slip of parchment.

"It's to remind us that we're not allowed to use magic outside of school," Kiba explained as he examined his own letter.

"We're not?" Naruto frowned.

"Not if you don't want to be expelled," Professor McGonagall said in a matter-of-fact tone, "now hurry up or you'll miss the train!" She ushered the boys towards the large oak doors. "Hagrid is waiting for the first years outside, leave your belongings in the side chamber next to the Great Hall - they will be taken to the station separately," Professor McGonagall turned away from the boys and began to briskly walk away.

Without needing to be told twice, the trio pivoted on the spot and obliged to Professor McGonagall's instructions.

"Oh, boys!" Professor McGonagall shouted out one last time; she waited until the trio turned to face her with inquisitive expressions. "Have a good summer, see you in September." She smiled opened and gave a small wave.

"I knew she was a softie," Naruto grinned to himself.

* * *

 

The journey from Hogwarts to King's Cross Station was a lot quicker than Naruto had remembered it being on his first day of school. He, Kiba and Bill chose a compartment to themselves and were later joined by Shikamaru and Chōji - this was when Kiba decided to loudly complain about the Ravenclaws winning both the Quidditch Cup and the House Cup; to which Shikamaru continuously pointed out that the Gryffindors would have had more house points if they stopped breaking school rules.

"Well… whatever! I bet it's all fixed anyway," Kiba retorted as he threw himself back in his seat and crossed his arms in a sulky demeanour.

"Jeez, talk about a sore loser," Chōji chuckled while Shikamaru heaved a tiresome sigh; having become bored of the argument five minutes after it had started.

They finally changed out of their Hogwarts robes and into their Muggle clothes as they approached King's Cross Station.

The boys were momentarily separated as they approached the ticket barrier and they entered the Muggle world in smaller groups - under the watchful eye of a platform guard.

"Iruka?" Naruto spotted the familiar brunette haired man standing amongst the parents. "I'll see you guys later!" Naruto called over his shoulder to his friends as he dragged his trunk towards the older man.

"See you later, Naruto!" Bill and Shikamaru waved goodbye to the blond.

"Don't forget to write to us, moron!" Kiba called out after Naruto's retreating back as he too separated from the group to join Hana Inuzuka's side.

"See you in September, Naruto!" Chōji yelled.

"Hey Iruka!" Naruto greeted the man as he drew closer to the familiar brunette. "I can't wait to tell yo-" Naruto slowed his pace; instantly noticing the irate expression on Iruka's face, "hey, is everything alright?"

"You absolute knucklehead!" Iruka seethed while Naruto stared at the older man; feeling taken aback.

Realisation dawned upon Naruto - Iruka had been the one to receive the letter regarding the incident with Orochimaru as Naruto's temporary guardian.

"I forgot about that - but I'm okay! And Sakura and Sasuke seem to be fine too!" The blond added quickly in a reassuring tone. "Have I told you about them yet? I'm sure that I've mentioned them in my letters, but Sakura's in Ravenclaw - just like you were, you told me back in August, remember? And Sasuke's -"

Iruka felt his irritability ebb away as Naruto launched into an explanation about his friends at Hogwarts and soon his scowl was involuntarily replaced with a small smile, "why don't we talk about this over a bowl of ramen? My treat," Iruka suggested; cutting Naruto off mid sentence, "I'm sure we've got some time to spare before we go back to the orphanage."

"All right!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air excitedly and grabbed his trunk again; hurrying towards the exit of King's Cross Station. "Iruka, you're the best, y'know!"

Iruka trailed behind the blond at a slower pace; watching as Naruto enthusiastically cheered and sped ahead through the throng of commuting Muggles.

" _How can I stay angry at him, especially when he's this happy?"_ The thought in Iruka's head drowned out Naruto's voice. " _Maybe I'll lecture him later."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the final chapter of Rise of a Wizard - so if you made it this far, congratulations~! And thank you
> 
> ~Fox


End file.
